Are we there yet?

Any word on the 978? Is it still on track for end of year?

About the same odds as Santa Claus dropping down our chimneys.

Hey! What kind of comment is that? I am expecting Santa Claus to come this Christmas. Now as for the 978? Santa will come, Pigs will fly, and the 978 will still be on it's way, just nobody will know exactly when.

Oh, sorry, yes there is a Santa Claus (with a sleigh full of 978's).

I knew it! The 978 is coming this Christmas. Santa will come through. If not....then the flying pigs will bring them.

Hopefully we can get an update from the mothership soon.

In the Audyssey thread at AVS, it has come to light just recently that XT32 is more fundamentally different (and seemingly better) than just higher resolution than XT. Start with Sanjay's post 45173 (although there is some info over the few days before that too).

This is one of those cases where no news is not good news. If the 978 doesn't make it by Xmas it may be DOA.

Hopefully that's not the case. I haven't been around long enough to see how these guys manage the information with a successful product cycle. They've tended to keep their cards close to their chest, at least for the mis-fired predecessor of the 978.

With all this said, it just feels (to me) like an update is due. I can feel it in my bones. I need more data.

Yes. Three months with no news with the most recent release target quickly approaching, I would say it is time. With that said, they seem to not care about such timelines.

I'm in electronics manufacturing and product development time lines are VERY important and tracked closely, BUT even more important is getting the product right and performing to spec so the customer experience will be positive (and hopefully product reviews). The delay could be with their manufacturing partner or it could be software/firmware. I suspect the latter, from experience. Software is ALWAYS buggy and a bug fix is as likely as not to cause another bug. Software has presented unexpected problems in most of our products and really causes product launch delays.

Now, where's my 978?

To be clear, I wasn't saying they weren't concerned about the release date or the progress necessary to get there. I was inferring that they don't seem to care about a time line when it comes to keeping their customers informed. It doesn't seem to matter to them how long it has been since they sent out an update or how close they're getting to the release date. If you look at their history, the gap between updates was close to 7 months a couple of times. So the fact that it has been a quarter since their last update probably doesn't impact their decision to update people on the progress. You would think that if they're still going to get this thing out by year end that they would've said something by now. Actual progress of the product toward production seems to dictate their updates more than how long it has been since their last update.

I personally don't believe that you can ever overcommunicate to the customer. Hopefully we'll get an update by early Dec, but sooner would be better.

Just curious, does anyone know if they are in beta testing yet? That would be a positive sign at least.

As soon as available put me down for one.

Right, still waiting patiently here as well. I hope Santa is kind to us all.

Same here. I hope all this waiting is worthwhile.

same here

same

Same here

I expect to be going in to hear a Sherwood-Newcastle R-972 with Trinnov Optimizer demo at a local home theater dealer in 8 days. I would bypass the amplifier section and use it as a pre-pro. The dealer claims that the bugs appear to be worked out now and the sound-field blows away every Audyssey system in existence. Too bad Newcastle doesn't have a similar processor without amps.

Hi akiddoc,

I have been using an R-972 for a couple months and have not experienced any major bugs or issues. I bought the R-972 on an impulse (got a tremendous deal) as waiting for the 978 had become too painful. I did not do a lot of research on what the issues people said were beforehand. It is possible they are still there but I just have not come across them yet. And I also have a 5.1 setup. It's a relatively simple configuration. The only thing I have noticed is that it does take a couple seconds for the R-972 to lock on the audio again if I pause a movie or change the surround mode.

By the way the first thing I did was upgrading the R-972 to the current firmware version of 1.47 (available from Sherwood USA site). The Trinnov setup took about 15 minutes and it was very straight forward. It has improved the sound field and image of my 5.1 configuration. The sweet spot is exactly where I had put the Trinnov microphone during the setup. Now I hear a lot more nuances especially from the surround channels. Even my wife and my 8 year old notice a vast improvement over our previous setup. To be fair, I had never owned another receiver/processor with Audyssey or other room EQ capabilities. I cannot compare Trinnov against others (Audyssey, Yamaha..etc.). Therefore I am still interested in getting my hands on the 978 if it's available soon.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your R-972 audition.

The 978 will have Audyssey MultiXT32, not Trinnov. The 998, if Outlaw decides to go ahead with it, will have Trinnov.

What I meant to say is that since I had never experienced other room EQ solutions besides the Trinnov in R972 I will still like to get the 978 to check out the Outlaw implementation of Audyssey when it's available. Of course that is not the only reason to get the 978. My other system is also due for an upgrade so the 978 will be put into the second system.

I'm gathering, by the lack of announcements or news, the 978 will not be around for the holidays. I hope I'm wrong, but it's the middle of November and we've heard very little.

Black Friday announcement coming??

I am optimistic that the folks at Outlaw Audio are trying as hard as they can in order not to miss the holiday seasons.

I've noticed the number of posts on the 978 has dropped off recently. Perhaps fellow outlaws have given up hopes on the 978. Or perhaps there is nothing to talk about. Or could it be that some of us are beta-testing the 978 and not allowed to comment due to confidentiality agreement?

I might try this if we get to early Dec and we haven't heard anything, but someone could always try and email/PM Scott or Peter.

I just sent a PM to Peter (nice guy - I met him at CES last January), suggesting he post an update before Black Friday when folks will be spending their available funds. We'll see...

I would seriously consider buying the 978. I am beginning to think it is just a figment of our imagination.

Thanks for the info hifihunter. How did you get the "tremendous deal?"

I heard the Sherwood Newcastle with Trinnov. It was part of a system with speakers very unlike my own. The other system I heard was a Krell pre-pro with professional EQ. Similar speakers to system #1. Much better amps in use than those of the Sherwood receiver. I have not heard any of the Audyssey systems.

The Sherwood was reasonably good in a theater sense. Pretty convincing sound field. Good dialogue intelligibility (something I have trouble with in inferior systems). A little congested at times. Good height. The sound field was a little narrow, a little shallow.

The Krell (an old model with NO HDMI), as it should have been, was better. More of that you-are-there feeling. No congestion. Cleaner, almost sparkling in the higher frequencies. Huge, wide soundstage for theater and music. So much more depth to the audio image.

The biggest difference was on the musical side. Absolutely blows the Sherwood out of the water. How much was due to the amps? Hard to say. The Sherwood sounds pretty grimy in comparison.

Of course, a brand new current Krell is 10 to $12,000. (Unless you get the $30,000 model.) I was looking at an old model with a special deal of about $4,000 including professional set-up. But what a pain in the neck to go with no HDMI inputs. I could live with the video side, but many newer A/V devices do not have analog 5.1 out. For example, the Roku has stereo analog out, and 5.1 HDMI out.

akidoc,

What comparisons are you making in your post? The Sherwood vs. Krell amplifier sections? Two different types/brands of speakers? Trinnov vs. non-Trinnov? An expensive Krell system vs. an inexpensive Sherwood system?

Sorry, I'm just trying to understand your message.

It was impossible to do a real side by side comparison at the dealer I went to. My overall point was that the Sherwood with Trinnov was competent and produced a nice surround envelope, but it wasn't earth shattering. It couldn't match the Krell's surround sound, and in the $2000 receiver mode the musicality was far short of more expensive electronics, and far short of what I am used to at home. Actually, in a musical sense I thought the Sherwood was pretty bad. There are limits to what one can get at the $2000 receiver level. Trinnov implemented at that price level is not a game changer. Outlaw would have had to do a complete rebuild of the electronics to use this product.

Possibly, if one bypasses the amplifier section on the Sherwood, a much better sound can be had. The dealer was not willing to spend the time to do that for me.

I hope that Outlaw can put out a pre pro at the $1500 price point that will trounce the traditional manufacturers (and their many extra expenses) in musicality and transparency. All the software algorithms do nothing when the rest of the signal pathway is crap.

Silly me keeps checking about every day thinking, well, maybe... This is the last piece of the puzzle for me for this upgrade.(first one in 5-20 years depending on component) The Epson 8700 UB, 7900, BDP93, set of Axiom speakers, LFM1-EX and Plus, Velodyne SMS-1 are all in place. A holiday update from Peter certainly would be nice. :-)

St. Peter was a simple fisherman. I don't think he can tackle Outlaws technical issues in releasing the 978. I'm wondering if only God can get the 978 out.

Just having fun on Christmas morning. Hopefully January 2012 brings us new life to the 978s situation and that with the coming New Year Outlaw will give us a real and encouraging prospect report on the unit.

Merry Christmas all.

St. Peter would be more comfortable resurrecting the 978 around Easter. Hopefully we don't have to wait for the next big St. Peter type of holiday for release.

I'll try to pry some info out of Peter at CES (yeah, right)

Please! LOL Thanks Hank!

I'm back from CES and did not get to see Peter. I showed up at the Atlantic/Parasound room at 8:30 Tuesday, but they didn't open until 9 and I had a meeting at 9. Meetings all day Tuesday and Wednesday, back to Austin yesterday. Our booth was great and got enthusiastic comments about our new pico projectors, BUT, alas, didn't get to talk with Peter. He would not have told me an estimated release date anyway - I just wanted to visit with him.