Kos:

It isn't at all a question of "meeting the spec" or not. The fact that the 990 doesn't have THX certification was most likely a business decision on the part of the Outlaws having more to do with the time and cost invovled of obtaining THX approval, rather than anything having to do with quality or specs. No one other than the THX licensees (which, by the way, is another cost!) really know what the magic specs are, but I'll bet that if the 990 WERE matched against them, it wouldn't have any problem passing anythign relevant.

The REAL question is if the 990 has the right combination of performance and features for the price, and whether or not you (or enough people out there) would be willing to pay extra for what would be invovled in having it be a THX certified product.