I set up my 990/755 over the weekend and wanted to get some quick impressions off before I head out of town for a few weeks.

The outlaw setup replaces my old Yamaha DSP-A3090 amplifier. It runs DefTech 2002s, a 2002 C/L/R, and a pair of BPXs as the surrounds. Per advice from DefTech, the fronts are set to "Large" and subwoofer to off.

Auto Set-up: I have run auto set-up a couple of times and it has worked well in both cases. Measured distances generally were accurate, and I did not experience the issues some have reported with auto-setup. While I have done some tweeking (and might continue to do so when I get back), the auto setup for me was a very positive experience. Any tweeking I will do I suspect will be to refine output and sound of the 2002s' built-in powered sub, which can be touchy and sometimes a bit boomy.

Sound: I tested the audio using a Sony DVP 700P DVD player, with both optical and analog outs hooked up to the 990. Various test CDs were used, including Michel Camilo's "Triangulo", Bruce Springsteen's "Live in NYC" (since I was at both of those shows), and a couple of Telarc classical recordings.

As a general matter, my DefTechs have never sounded better. To my ears, in any sound mode (stereo, bypass, or upsampling) the speakers seem to have opened up and to operate in a more integrated fashion between the bottom and the top (if that makes sense). As a general matter, the soundstage seems broader and deeper. Family and friends who have heard the system all say it is a great improvement over the old set-up.

In terms of the various modes, we also all have a strong preference at this point for upsampling. If I understand correctly, upsampling is supposed to remove the "brick wall" at the upper end on CDs. If so, the 990 seems to do this well. With upsampling, the higher range seems brighter, with more depth and detail than in either stereo or bypass mode. No doubt some of this also reflects the fact that the Sony DVD player is not a high-end CD player, and so the 990 might inherently make it sound better, but the bottom line is that all who listened preferred upsampling with the 990 over any other listening mode.

Video/DVDs: Have not spent much time on the video side. I have hooked up the Sony DVD and Tivo to the 990 as a video switcher (largely because I do not want to run a bunch of cables from the a/v rack to the television -- A 40-inch Sony XBR700 HDTV). The DVD player is hooked up using the its component outputs, Tivo using S-video, and the 990 is hooked up to the television using the component out.

The switching works well and the picture from either the DVD or TIVO at first glance seems as good or better than before.

As to sound, running a couple of DVDs (including The Incredibles and various Pierce Brosnan James Bond films), again, the 990/755 combo blew away my old Yammie. Sound seemed more focused and distinct, and the sound envelope more encompassing. Although the LFE inputs are not hooked up, with the fronts set to "large" there was plenty of action from the subwoofers -- enough to shake the room without being too boomy or overwhelming. I need to spend more time with DVDs for a better sense of how everything goes together, but so far I remain impressed.

That is not to say I don't have a few nitpicks. As others have noted, these two pieces are huge, and getting them into a BDI Vector 9522 took some effort. I ended up having to put the 990 on the very top, and getting some right angle adapters for the 755 at the very bottom.

Another nitpick is that so far, as reported by Brent Butterworth, every time I play a DVD, I find the default sound for the Sony DVD play switches back to "DPLIIx Movie", even though I previously had set it to "Upsample" for playing CDs. Perhaps this can be fixed in a firmware update.

I will try to get out some other impressions at a later date, including SACD and DVD-A sound when I hook up a universal player (yet to be purchased).

In any event, I hope as a newbie reviewer that these comments are helpful to those who are on the waiting list or thinking about purchasing the 990. From my perspective, its a keeper!

Bob