You sound to be in the same boat as I am currently, kappa. I bought a 970 about a month ago, and right off the bat had the no-audio/jumping volume bug. It could very well kill my speakers, I have no doubt of that, so for the moment I'm using my old processor in place of it.

Talking to Outlaw, I'm basically waiting for the long-fabled firmware patch to come out and fix it. I got my "trial period" extended, so I can still send it back if they don't get the firmware out soon, so we'll have to see.

This sums it up well, for me as well, eh:

There is so little else out there that can do what the 970 can do, at that price, that getting rid of it seems awkward, but if it's going to blow up my speakers...