Denon AVF988 to power amp to whole house speakers

headphone jack cable to 2x RCA/phono (red & white) cable. Connect that to a spare input on the amp.

If you wish to get some details; check the site linked here. Pull up older posts. Surf the site with patience. http://electronicshelponline.blogspot.com/
Reset procedure to many electronic entertainment equipment are given.

Check for shorts in Zone 2.

By properly, you must mean WITH the Active EQ.

According to this picture, you're in luck BUT...

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/receivers/denon-avr-3805/denon_AVR3805_rear_lg.jpg

(Short answer from personal experience.)

There is no way around this part. Get a separate power amp for the 901's if you want to use them in a multichannel way or alongside non-901 speakers. A good 100-wpc amp will do. (I like Carver)

Connect the Active EQ between the Front pre-outs and the amp input. Run speaker assignment, levels, etc and have fun.

Helpful Hint: If you don't have sufficient between-speaker room for proper reflection off the front wall you CAN turn the 901's around and you won't believe the amount of air these things push! I have actually felt it ten feet away after explosions or crashing ocean wave sounds. Now THAT is multi-media.

SW means sub woofer, not necessary means center speaker in all receivers. Instead of setting 5ch stereo, if you have 3 speakers. try to set "3channel" or "simulated". If you own more than 3 speakers, you may refer to the user´s manual to correctly wire them to get the full sound.

There is a button on the front of the unit under Input its a mode button press this button to select auto that should give you sound

http://www.usa.denon.com/ArchivedAVReceivers.asp?archivedModelSearch=true&clearCurrent=true&archivedCategory=AV&archivedModel=AVR-3805&imageField.x=10&imageField.y=9

cut n paste the whole link.

Also check all you cables..If you have spares try them in place of the others

No as there is no volume control on the zone outputs

time to reset the microprocessor. See page 87 in manual.
1) switch off the unit using the main unit's power operation (small power button)
2) hold the PURE DIRECT button and DIRECT button at same time and turn the main unit's power operation on.
3) wait for entire display to flash in 1 second intervals

now the speakers need to be set up again but zone 2 will be working. i suspect a power surge causes the microprocesser to be corrupted. i put a power surge protector and have not had problems (lately).