The 990 should have no problem with this arrangement, although if you set the M80ti's to "large" you won't have 2.1 - you'd probably want to set them to "small" with a crossover of 40Hz. My Paradigm Studio/60's have a similar frequency response to the M80ti's, and this sort of arrangement has worked well for me. (While on the subject of 2.1 playback, The Capt has indicated that he believes all stereo playback modes are exhibiting a full-range subwoofer signal, even though only the stereo analog bypass mode is intended to behave this way - I haven't had a chance to verify this, and I haven't seen anything to indicate whether there is definitely a software issue or a hardware glitch in Capt's unit.) I'd only recommend the 5.1 analog connection for DVD-Audio or SACD - the 990's DSP modes are only going to be available with Video DVD's if you use the coaxial or optical inputs, and the 990's DAC's are no slouches. Currently the way that bass management works with the 7.1 input is two ways: if all speakers are set to large, then there is no bass management; but if some or all speakers are set to small, the input is converted to digital and the digital bass mangement (quadruple crossovers and all) is applied. There have been several requests for an extra setting that would serve as a standalone toggle for this behavior ("pure analog bypass" or "digital bass management" for the 7.1 direct input), but we haven't heard if this will be included in a future firmware update.