Well, my 990 shat the bed last night. It worked fine all day yesterday and last night. I went to turn it on this morning and...nothing. The standby light was on, but it wouldn't power up. I did the troubleshooting thing and called Outlaw at 9:00AM on the dot. Now I realize things fail, that's a part of this electronics world we live in, and I can accept that. However, I'm a bit bummed that it may take 3-4 weeks to get my unit back. Am I not supposed to watch tv or movies or listen to music for a whole month? That's a tad absurd. So ultimately, I went and bought a Marantx SR-7001. Now, I don't expect the Marantz to hold up too well against the 990, but I have to say, I'm really liking the feature set, especially the dual component outs and the HDMI in/out. It really makes my video switching simple. Jury is still out on the Audessy EQ. I'm running the software right now, and we'll see how that goes. I'll try to watch a movie or two tonight and see how the surround reproduction is compared to the 990.

Now, I have to say that I am a little disappointed in the fact that Outlaw doesn't provide either a loaner or replacement/exchange unit. I would have much rather paid for an "exchange" up front which could be credited once warranty was verified, or billed if warranty is voided for some reason. I don't typically complain about stuff like this, but 3-4 weeks is a crazy amount of time to be without a central processing hub in my HT...especially since my tv is a plasma monitor and my projector didn't come with speakers. My point is, not only would I be without surround...I'd be without audio period. If my TV had speakers the lead time would have been a much easier pill to swallow. I'm sure I'm not the only person in this situation either, so those of you with similar set ups...fair warning, you may want to buy a back up processor/receiver. Ultimately, I think I'll return the 7001, but I'll probably buy something a little less robust in case of emergencies.