Well, didn't the last Sherwood go for like $1200 list? The new one looks good to me too and the last one was a "recommended component" too!
Has anyone seen the one from Davis Labs? (Davislab.com) That looks good unfortunately I think they said $3000.00, just a little outta reach.

The Sherwood looks like a nice unit, but, according to their website it lacks 6.1/7.1 decoding while the Outlaw 950 does. I am looking forward to the DTS-ES for Gladiator . Has anyone , with a 950 played this selection yet in the DTS-ES format?

Gladiator in DTS-ES was one of the first movies I watched when I got my 950. It was very cool. The 950 detected the ES flag and switched right into the correct mode, and it sounded great.

------------------
gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Everett, did you go to the "new products" link and look at the new pre-pro? Cause it says it 7.1 and DTS ES.
I guess I'll wait until Sept. or Oct. to purchase. That seems the time for manufactures to realease their new stuff. Speaking of, how come Marantz hasn't come out with an upgrade for their AV9000 pre.? One could almost buy that on looks alone.
I'm really regretting moving to seperates becuase unless you have 7 or $8,000 to spend you wind up getting less and glitches and problems. In fact, does anyone wanna buy a two month old ATI 1505? JUST KIDDING!
I think I'll sell my body a couple of weekends for some fast cash. Again JUST KIDDING! I'll stop now.

Everett, the upcoming Sherwood P-958 pre/pro/tuner has 7.1, according to http://www.sherwoodusa.com/2002products/2002HTML/P958.html

I stand corrected. I clicked on to seperates and got the AVP-980 (I believe) and it states 5.1. I see now they do have a 7.1 offering... a nice looking unit and apparently will be priced similar to the Rotel 1066. Is there a firm retail on this yet? Or, are we waiting for an offical word in SepT!!

Will Sherwood have a matching 7 channel amp for the pre/pro? At this point it seems worth waiting for if they ship on time. I've already waited 17 months for the 950, what's another month?

They sure do...

http://www.sherwoodusa.com/2002products/2002HTML/A958.html

What I can see is that in 1-2 years, there will be a lot of interesting separates available.

What I also read was that a Denon 3802 as a pre-pro is also very good when matched with the 770. The 770 takes care of the flat sound of the 3802's amp section. That could be an affordable pre-pro with all the goodies while waiting for a better pre-pro.

That 7 channel Sherwood amplifier has fewer watts per channel than the big amps. It's like the upcoming 7 channel amplifier announced by Outlaw, which lets people buy separates without having to buy a beefy amp. Often a beefy 7 channel amp isn't desired since it would cost far more than the budget pre/pro's from Sherwood, Outlaw, and Rotel. A budget 7 channel amp mated to a budget 7 channel pre/pro should compete nicely against the overpriced mega-receivers.

Depending on when the 950 starts shipping again , the *3803* might be viable competition for a receiver-as-a-pre/pro...