Chas,

Please convey your impressions about the 970/7075 pair as opposed to the 1070?

Very very very similar performance. I would say bass sounds a little "drier" (for lack of a better term) with the 970/7075 combo....bass sounded a little "thicker" with the 1070 (maybe due to the shared large capacitance?). Sounds in movies seem a little crisper in each speaker with the 970/7075. For example I was trying out private ryan (dts) and background voices really popped out in a way that I don't ever remember before.

Hey Chas,

Do you use the Multi Channel Analog Input in Bypass mode with the toggle switch all the way up?

How is music sounding with the combo now?

I prefer bypass without a sub. Music sounds about the same to me on the 970/7075 and the 1070.

Argh, you put more money into the 970 and amp yet no gains :-(

The gain would be more available power. If I am not mistaken, the 1070 consumes 855watts, while the 7075 consumes 1200watts. While the specs show 65 w vs 75 w, I think the 7075 would provide more headroom. But I could be mistaken.

Gain doesn't necessarily mean more available power if I am not mistaken.

More headroom is really the only benefit I expected from the 970/7075 combo. The main reason for buying was to switch to seperates with a good deal on the combo, and build some Outlaw bucks towards the next generation processor.

chas,

Let the new units break in and then convey the changes in SQ compared to your 1070.

I am stil waiting for my Anthem MCA 5 series 2 amp to arrive.

David,

If you still looking for an alternative, perhaps the Sherwood Newcastle R-872 is worth a try. It supports HDMI 1.3a and decodes TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. Personally, I wouldn't buy a new receiver at this stage of the game without HDMI 1.3a support and support for the new codecs. Sherwood Newcastle also has a decent reputation for audio sound quality. I believe it's listed around $1000.

If you re-configure your cable box/satellite box to use the analog outputs does this help at all with the lock-ups? Just wondering if you can get your system in a usable state until the next round of Outlaw products come out...who knows, maybe they'll offer some sort of a trade-up program.

Good luck,
-John