With a 7.1 system, you will want to experiment a bit with some of the surround processing modes (using the "Dolby" and "DTS" buttons on the remote) to bring the rear surrounds into play. You might want to check out the "Surround Processing" portion of this page for a crash course on the different modes that exist. The Model 990 offers most of the modes on that list, with only THX modes, the proprietary Logic7 processing, and the new HD audio formats (Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, and DTS-HD) not available. Personally, I use Pro Logic IIx-Movie on top of Dolby Digital and DTS typically in my 7.1 system (unless it's a DVD with Dolby EX or DTS-ES and the 990 is required to apply those modes).