I'd love to see some beans get spilled! Alas, it may be a while longer before that happens.

For what it's worth, the 990's on sale for $800 at the moment and you get a $200 discount off a next-gen processor if you have one: you could replace the ailing decoder now with that, and if you sell the 990 used later this year you could probably recoup much of the $600 difference you'd have invested in it. Even if the price drop to $900 and the $200 discount drop the used market price to $500 for a relatively new 990 with most of its warranty left (which is $125 to $200 lower than the current ads on Audiogon), you'd basically have spent $100 plus shipping to "rent" a processor during the interim.