Big Red:

You seem to be in an understandable quandry, based on your posts here and over "there".

Why no pair a 970, or even better 990 with your Big Dog?

If you already have the amp, the combination of the two should be great. Of course, if not, a 990/7125 combo with the ability to trade up to one of the balanced amps when they come out is also a wise choice.

Good to see you over on this side of the world. Come on back anytime!

I have got some information together on the performance of these two units and the Yamaha 2500. It can be found here:

http://processors.dblattman.com/

Hmm, the 970 doesn't sound promising and I just ordered it. But hopefully those video problems are like you said, just related to your unit.

Based on the fact that the 1070's been shipping for so long and uses the same video switching, I think it's likely that the unit that Doug got was defective.

I'm sure the video problems are specific to my unit. I will follow up with the Outlaws next week and do some more testing and keep everyone informed with my progress.

Doug, thanks for the great breakdown of the models and what they did well and not so well. Your investment of time and money may go a long way in helping some of us who can't do a side by side test of these units. I have 970 on order and it should be here next week so I will be sure to post my impressions when I get it and get everything up and running. Thanks again.

Doug

Thanks for the comparison. With my 990/7125 combo due in the next 2 days I can hardly wait! Especially after your excellent review of the 990. glad I spent the extra $300.

I posted this on the avsforum the other day:

== I had about an hour to play/listen to my 970 yesterday. I was comparing the 970 to my Sony STRA777ES and let me tell you, 970 rocks! I could not believe how clear the dialogs from center channel were. Finally, I know what front stage should sound like.

To be fair, Sony does not have the latest DD processing options, but good old DD processing on 970 sounded better to me.

After reading Doug’s review, maybe I should upgrade to 990. When will this upgrade bug leave me? ==

I would add that if someone is getting into separates for the first time, the 970 is a great value. I listened to it some more yesterday and I just can't believe my ears! I thought Sony 777ES was the best receiver out there for DD 5.1.

Since my wife also likes and CAN hear the difference (she always thought what we had was better then any of our friend... hence I was not allowed to spend on upgrades), we may upgrade to 990

My wife was most impressed with the difference in 2-Channel music. This is one of the few times she has clearly heard a difference with an upgrade. She also commented on how open movies sound. It makes upgrading so much easier when the spouse can hear and likes the difference.

Unfortunately, it isn't just Doug's 970. My 1070 suffers from the same “white flashes” discussed in his review. And other 1070 owners have similar problems. (You can read a thread about it here .)

Have any other 970 owners seen this problem?