Well gentleman the Arcam has settled nicely into my system. As I stated previously the P-965 I got was DOA so I can't make a comparison to the 990, but I can tell you the AVP-700 has surpassed my high expectations.

It has a terrible remote and a global crossover. These are the two things I don't like about it.

But, it sounds awsome! The spaciousness and seperation for HT is as good as I've heard and easily the best I've had in my system. Using the analog inputs I really can't tell allot of difference between it and the 950 it replaced. And, the 950 had the 80Hz analog crossover, I do miss that. So if you are on a budget the 950 with a good Muti-DVDP utilizing the analog inputs is going to be hard to beat.

However, when I feed the 700 via a digital output from one of my DVDP's the music comes alive. I'm talking detail, pace and accuracy that my DVDP's just can touch.

With the 950 I used to play my SACD's almost exclusively as my DVDP's had poor Redbook CD performance and the 950 wasn't any better in this ragard. The Aram is a different story. I am now getting redbook performance that is very close, if not just as good as that of my SACD's (depends on the CD). Just incredible!

The sound is so good that I've now decided I cannot give up on RBCD's and I'm going to get either a Rega Apollo or the Naim CD5i. It's going to have to be something really good to surpass the 700. I'll use my Sony ES and Sherwood SD-860 for multi-channl and SACD playback, 700 for HT, and stand CDP for two channel RB CD's. I should then have all basis covered.

Well maybe a faster sub down the line (it never ends). :-)

Anyhow, it's not all hype, this is indeed an impressive piece of equipment.

I have nothing but admiration for the Outlaws. IMO the 950 in it's price range can't be beat, and from what I read, neither can the 970/990.

I mean, I could have bought two 990's for what I gave for the Arcam and that's something that can't be overlooked. And, I still don't know how the two compare, but I can tell you if the 990 provides anywhere near the sound of this unit, which I hear it does, than it's a steal. But, I'm happy with my Arcam. Just tickled pink. I haven't been this gush over a piece of equpment in quite a few years. Kudos to the Arcam folks for this one. :-)