Hello everyone,

I have an Oppo-BDP-83 blu-ray player and a Carver 5 channel 125 per channel amplifier. I also have a 50" Samsung plasma tv and 5 high quality speakers. In addition I have a very nice Sunfire sub-woofer. Currently I have the analog outputs from my Oppo blu-ray player connected to an old Sony processor in an input bypass mode. The Sony processor is not on and just passes the information from my blu-ray player to my amplifier. I use the volume control on my Oppo to adjust my listening levels. I have an HDMI connection from the blu-ray player directly connected to my tv.

Now my question, I know the way my blu-ray player is connected is not the most ideal. I was told the volume should be turned up all the way and a preamp/receiver should be used to adjust the volume. I don't want to buy a receiver and was looking at a pre-amp/processor. I also don't want to spend more than $750 or so. I was looking at the Emotiva UMC-1, but have heard there are a lot of issues with it and the room correction is virtually useless. I have also considered the Outlaw 990, even though it is not HDMI and does not have the latest decoders or offer room correction.

If I use the Oppo to do all the decoding and pass the information to the 990 by analog and connect the HDMI cable directly to my tv, will this produce good results even without room correction? I want to have excellent sounding multichannel music (SACD) and excellent movie sound. Any thoughts on what I should do? Should I look for something with room correction? Is the 990 a good alternative or is just outdated technology. I would appreciate any objective responses. Thank you.