My 970 had exhibited the 'freeze' both when the source is turned on before the 970 and when the 970 is turned on prior to the source. I usually try to turn on the 970 first, as it seems it occurs less that way. Fortunately, it doesn't happen so much to me anymore, and I just deal with it when it happens. It's a pain but the sound quality is still worth it. As I mentioned before I don't think there will ever be a fix at this point.

I too am another disappointed 970 owner, I bought a 970/7075 combo in 2006. I did all the research and read all the reviews about the 970/7075 and came to the logical conclusion it has the best bang for your buck. Well its 2008, and I have to say boy was I wrong. The problems with this unit are staggering. I have experienced all the usual complaints with my unit as well. And misery loves company because all you have to do is read any number of posts in this forum to get the same sense of disappointment I have with the Outlaw 970. I will say that Outlaw does bend over backwards to help resolve any problems you have with their product, but in the end no matter how accommodating they are no resolution will make the unit perform any better than it does. My final stand (short of shelling out 300 more dollars for the 990) was to sell the 970/7075 on eBay, but after several listing and even sweetening the deal with AXIOM speakers (LCR+surrounds) nobody would buy it. So now I’m still an Outlaw, and I just take the quirks the 970 throws at me with a lesson learned. In the end, I hope that people read this and make the conclusion to NOT buy the 970 but spend the extra 300 and buy the 990. Then they can spend their Outlaw days as a happy consumer. Knowing they not only have the flagship unit but the best customer service any compnay can have.

Agreed 100%.

I bought the LFM 1-EX on sale, so I wouldn't have that I should have bought feeling, although, it appears that all the Outlaw subs are excellent products, just like their amps.

My first Outlaw purchase was the 7100 amp, which was the bottom of the line at the time, and I was totally blown away by the clean, powerful sound from that amp. I thought it would be the same with the 970, but, sad to say, it is not.

I contacted them suggesting that they give us 970 owners an at cost final run of the 990 when the new processor comes out, but didn't get anywhere with that. Of course, my biggest beef is the two-channel performance. I just purchased the wrong unit, that was my fault.

I've learned to live with my 970 and its "quirks" as well. Its really frustrating that I can just about 100% guaranty when I start it up that I'll get no audio and I'll have to get up and power it on and off manually (yes I've run the latest firmware update).

I was happy with my 950, but decided to upgrade to the 970 for extra component and DVI inputs. I'm trying to decide if I should sell off by 755 amp and 970 processor and pick up a Denon AVR-3808 or just wait and see how the new Outlaw processor works. Hopefully Outlaw will throw us long suffering 970 customers a bone when the processors come out to help ease our pain and struggles with this buggy unit.

I too, share all of your frustrations and disappointments with the 970. See my last posting on the subject "970/990 signal delay" in which I posted this:

“Thinking about this issue, I look back to my semi-conductor manufacturing equipment experience where there are inherit hardware bugs that are sometimes corrected by software tweaks. Although sometimes the software tweaks do correct the hardware bugs, many times they alleviate the problem, but do not 100% fix the problem. Rather than replace the faulty hardware because it is too costly, we would tweak the software until there was a happy median. The system hardware bugs would still sporadically occur, but very infrequently. If they did, we would have a work around embedded in the software.
I'm wondering, is this what is happening to the 970?”

There were no further responses.

I'm really disillusioned with Outlaw because after running the latest firmware update on my 970 for several months now, I concluded that it is actually worse than the previous firmware revision. The reason I say this, is before the July 2, 2007 firmware update, I did experience the “no audio” bug, which still occurs, but I did not experience the new “freeze on power up” bug. Which is even more annoying since the only way to “unfreeze” the 970 is to power off via rear power switch.

But my latest concern disappoints me even more and I have yet to see any postings. Several times when I have turned on either my Denon DVD player(Toslink) or Denon CD player(Coax) along with my Outlaw 970 the audio output sounded like a scratched recorded, very garbled. It seemed as though the 970 did not fully finish processing the signal of the source and outputted garbage. Either my 970 is getting worse or the new firmware update has introduced yet another bug.

I’m definitely contacting the guys at Outlaw, but I was wondering if any one else has encounter this problem?

LM,
I've never encountered that issue (and I hope I don't). Just the no audio/freeze issue primarily with me.

well...my 1070 still has issues...somewhat similar to the 970...
I've noticed the unit is very sensitive as far as the digital domain goes...never mind HDCP...unplugging the headphones if the unit is off...or the occasional transcoding video issues...a reboot always works....
and on the bright side...
my buddy who has an AVM 30...now updated to an AVM 50...( 1070&970 many times over cash wise)has similar problems since the upgrade...

finally...can we be so upset
testing a manufacturer's goods when they come out to market ?
we seem impatient enough for the latest technology...that famed new processor...the latest software...that new format...etc.
in that frame of mind...I believe we accept as a group to be guinea pigs...and when you get that deal...I believe we should accept as well...that there's no free lunch...

altough as a caterer...I could never see myself serving meals that were unfinished...buggy or just not right...yet I know plenty of establishements do....

Interesting point view, but Outlaw is not giving the 1070/970s away for free. Although their pricing is very competitive, just because we're getting a good deal doesn't mean we should accept being "guinea pigs." Besides these products have been on the market quite some time (over two years), and in my opinion should be bug free by now.

Many people select Outlaw as their first introductory high end audio systems because of the reviews and excellent pricing. Like many of the postings say, if many us would have known about the issues of the 970 we would have elected going with the 990 or some other brand processors. In my case, like many of us, I was on a tight budget and wanted more power so I went with the 970/7125 combination.

The 970 has a 2 year warranty. If it is not performing as advertised, I'd be calling for an RMA number for them to repair it. Since the silence from Outlaw has lasted for a long period, it sounds as if the "no-audio" problems are getting swept under the rug!!! That's too bad!!!

It really sounds like a response is needed here from Outlaw as potential customers also read this.