Hi Outlaws. Work and Travel have kept me away from the Saloon for 3-4 years. Due to economy, no job or travel for now. Time to upgrade the HT. The 950 is still doing a great job. It will move to the bedroom. The 997 looks like it should be the replacement. I'm on the list. Hope it does something like analog bypass. No phono input is no problem. I would use my tube phono preamp anyway. I see the 970 has analog bypass. The 990 lists a pure analog mode. Not sure what that means. Guess I'll have to read the posts and reviews to get up to speed. Glad to see Gonk is still here and active. Equipment will be posted as soon as I figger out how.