Anyone know what the dimensions of the 997 wil be? I know from the announcement it will have the "same look" as the 990 but am wondering about dimensions. I am hoping it will be a litte more rack-friendly.

We don't have specific dimensions yet, of course, but I can offer an educated guess. From pictures of the R-972 (and the fact that the R-972 is a direct descendant of the R-965), it looks like the 997 is likely to be the same height as the 990. It's very possible they've retained that original chassis entirely, in which case the depth would match as well.

Thanks Gonk.

It's not a deal breaker for me if the dimensions are the same, would just prefer something not quite so deep.

If the dimensions are the same we can expect essentially the same back panel except for some extra HDMI / no DVI or phono.

Doubtful - the cabinet is unchanged, but so much will have to be different to accommodate the new DSP section, video processing, and so forth. I would not be surprised to see an entirely different rear panel for everything except maybe the power connection and the balanced outputs (which will be added to the 997 and will once again presumably use space reclaimed when the receiver amps came out).

I hope 997 has EXACTLY the same chassis as my 990 so I can simply slide it into the custom Middle Atlantic Rackshelf I purchased for my wall rack. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a new look and feel but keeping it the same would make the retrofit soo much easier.

What are the chances it's EXACTLY the same?

Regards,

BillMac

Check out the spec sheet on the Product page... Appears to be the exact same dimensions.