I was just cleaning out my Outlook files and came across the original email receipt for my Outlaw 950 dating from January 2004. This was a unit from the original shipment. After all the anticipation, it was a great day when they finally went out to those of us on the waiting list.

So, the warranty will be running out in a mere month and that means it's time to upgrade to the 997.

So let's not have any non-warranty downtime, Outlaws, load up the boats in SE Asia and get 'em over here.

If only it was that simple.

P.S. Another original 950 owner here.

Hey bobliinds,

What a memory rush!

My 5 years are up. I remember the wait and the endless threads on this forum and others. It was agony.

I hope this new proc comes soon. I'm interested to upgrade...NOT talk about 'where the he!! is the d**n thing!!!"

Great to see your post. Hope all is well.

Bosso

Me too brothers. I have been using my 950 a lot lately since getting a BD player (which makes DVD's look a lot better by the way). I have 3 BD titles on the way that are music/preformance discs using the new high bit rate codecs. I just need a new (997) to decode them. What's the word? When can we buy one?

The related Sherwood Newcastle R-972 is supposed to be released first with the Outlaw 997 not far behind. The latest on the R-972 is that they're supposed to be available in late January.

What Blu-ray player do you have? Depending on the player, you may not need a 997 to decode them (if the player has onboard decoding and multichannel analog output).

Panny DMP-BD55. It does on board decode. Not sure how well until I get some discs with the high bit codecs. My guess is the 997 will sound a whole lot better and for $1400 as opposed to $400, it should. My real problem is also having a Marantz universal player that has very good on board dacs for SACD, etc. where I need the 5.1 analog inputs on a pre/pro. Will use HDMI to connect the Panny to the 997. I would pull the trigger on buying one right now if they were available. In the mean time my 950 sounds great.

In this day and age of nearly-disposable consumer products, I am impressed by how well my 950 has held up. Ok so 5 years is no big deal in comparison to my speakers and amps, but I could imagine moving my 950 to another more "basic" HT set-up (master bedroom perhaps) and having it continue in service for many more years to come. Even with a spare stereo amp that I have lying around, and a pair of spare bookshelf speakers, it would make for a good stereo set-up using nothing but its FM tuner.

I bought my 950 in 2003, so I'm ready for an upgrade myself! The only reason I'm patiently waiting for the 997 and not going with another solution is because the regular DD/DTS tracks still sound so damn good with the 950 (and my Butler amp) that I don't feel like I'm missing THAT much. Sure, being that I have a BD player it would, and will, be nice to take advantage of the high rez tracks. But the sound I get is still pretty darn good as is, and my 950 is stiill as reliable as the day I bought it.