They're close enough to bringing it to market that they've got to have the hardware well defined, so I would be very surprised to see a price above $1400. The "at least" language has appeared before over the years, and has in those cases been a protection against the unexpected that they've not had to use.

This really is exciting news. I'm very happy they set a rough price target for those of us saving our pennies. Hopefully they'll be accepting orders before October 10th which is when my $150 outlaw bucks expire. With the $200 original 990 ownership discount, that brings my target down to ~ $1050.

- Jason

What a string. It'll be nice if the new unit keeps its phono input, with maybe a bit of upgrade and about 10db more gain - maybe MC capability like the RR1250's? - and while still dreaming, how about an on-board active crossover for true biamping?

Gonk: Any chance that the 970 replacement would be a 990 with the Cirrus Logic 49700 replacing the current Cirris Logic DSP? It would seem to be a lot more solid platform then a true 970 follow-on. Potentially it might also be cheaper because so much of the platform is being reused. It would also enable Outlaw to follow the Sherwood lead and use the same box for a 1070 receiver replacement?

That seems like an interesting idea. The 990 presents as a very solid platform. The 970/1070 has been plagued with all sorts of problems with the "no audio" bug. That makes me a little leery of buying the budget pre/pro or reciever or anything originating from Eastech.

On another note, how about some pictures of the anticipated pre/pro. I know SN has even released thier product brochure.

The re-working required to roll in the 49700 and associated HDMI support would probably get pretty messy. It'd likely be easier to develop much of the platform from the ground up for the 49700. Aspects like the analog section might be easier to recycle, but in that case they could even look to something like the 970 (which had a pretty successful analog section from what I've heard) or just start with a clean slate.
Eastech has done some good work with Outlaw over the years (the 1050, as Peter Tribeman recently mentioned in another thread, is still a great platform). Having said that, I wonder if Outlaw hasn't already moved on from that partnership? The 990 has been very successful, which would suggest that they might keep cultivating the partnership with Etronics, and with the huge shake-up that HDMI v1.3 and the Cirrus delays have created it's possible that they've had reason to look for new partners as well.