Our backup, cheapo receiver is dying a quick death, and my wife is amenable to moving my 1050 into that room and replacing my main receiver. I think I've got about $1000 of the "Election year bribe" to put into it. I've loved my 1050 over the years (other than that month of warranty service back in the day), and bought another receiver (950?) for my church youth room with good success. I'm looking at the 7075/970 combo, and would love some thoughts from 970 owners.

The room is dedicated home theater, and that will be the almost exclusive use of the system. I do have HD DVD, and might be going Blu-Ray in the next year, so some of the newer formats like TrueHD and DTS-HD appeal to me, but I'm realistic enough that a great sounding system with regular DTS and the like could tear the socks off a lesser system that has the newest bells and whistles.

As I'm comparing the options, I'm looking at some of the competitor products (esp. Onkyo, Marantz) that do have these bells and whistles and are a bit cheaper ($700-800). They are receivers, not separates, but I've never owned separates, so I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Any advice? Here's my current setup:

Pioneer 5080 Plasma
Outlaw 1050 Receiver
Velodyne Sub (don't remember the model, it's about 7 years old)
B&W bookshelf speakers for L & R
JBL Center and Rears (5.1 setup)
Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player
Xbox 360
Harmony Universal remote (880?)

I run all of my video connections currently direct into the TV, and the digital audio connections direct to the receiver. It's a narrow and long room (maybe 15x40).

Thanks for any advice!

Prewitt,
I have the 970 which was previously paired with a 7075, and now a 7125. I currently have the same HD-DVD player you have, and I run it via HDMI to my DVI input on the 970 for video, then out via DVI to my TV (which has no HDMI inputs). I run my Oppo via component through the 970 and out via component to my TV. I'd never run video through a receiver or preamp until I bought the 970. It works OK in passing video in my experience. The sound quality of movies is fine through the 970, though I would probably say I've had some receivers that sounded better with HT than the 970/7075/7125...but my main reason for owning it is for music. I really like its bass management ability to bypass the subwoofer, and it beats any receiver I've ever owned for music hands down. The unfortunate part of living with the 970 are the glitches you encounter with it..even after the software updates. Fortunately, they have become fairly uncommon for me now...I have no idea why, but I've come to make sure I turn on the 970 and amp before I turn on the source. I've not had a real issue with it for some time, but I've gotten used to most of its 'quirks'. My .02

The 970/7075 combo is nice...but the platform is a bit buggy and at the end of its life cycle.

How do the JBL's blend with your B&W's? Since HT is your primary use for this unit, one option would be saving a little on the receiver and spend the extra cash on matching up the speakers (with B&W center and surrounds) and/or upgrading the sub (if necessary...your Velodyne may be a great sub!).

Thanks for both of the opinions. I was starting to gather from people that the combo was towards the end of its life, so I have started looking elsewhere.

To chas' comments, the JBL rears are fine. The center does a decent job of blending, but I realize that I have a major upgrade I could do there. My hope is to upgrade the LCRs next year (Outlaw's LCRs?) when I can afford to do it at the same time (I wouldn't mind having my B&Ws up in another room). I'd like to be in a position to put a good bit into that set. The Velodyne does a great job, especially in a small room like mine, so I'm not too worried about upgrading it any time soon, though if Outlaw came up with a great discount next year on the LCR plus sub, they might persuade me!

I'm starting to zero in on the Onkyo line for the receiver. I've loved my Outlaw equipment, but I think I'm recognizing that they just don't have anything for HT at my price point right now.

Thanks for the feedback!

The Onkyo's do seem to offer a lot for the $...good luck with your search!

As far amplifiers go, for the price and performance Outlaw is hard to beat. The 1.6 KVA torrodial transformer, makes a considerable difference in sound compared to most mass-produced receivers with conventional transformers. If you look at most of the very high-end amplifiers, they use torrodial transformers. I personally wanted more power and went with the 7125. Yes, it does cost more than the 7075, but well worth it. I expect this unit to last forever, or until I decided to upgrade and sell it or something.

On the other hand, Outlaws preamp/processors are questionable. If I had enough cash to afford the 990, I would go for it. Otherwise, considering the reoccurring issues of the 970 that you may or may not have to deal with, even if it was on sale, I would have to think really, really hard about it.