If the budget minded ($599) Onkyo TX-SR607 is already announced with PLIIz, then that means their chipmaker (Texas Instruments) already has the DSP solution in the works, which means Dolby has the specs finalized. Whoever is supplying the DSP chips for the 997 (I don't think it's Cirrus any more) should be announcing their solution some time this year. Anyone know the OEM chip supplier for the 997?

Yes, but how long has the spec been finalized?

The 997 uses TI chips as well, I believe, so it's very possible they could support it via firmware without terribly much hardship. It's the hardware side that's a question. The TX-SR607 is doing it by offering you a choice: rear surrounds or height channel (rear panel pic shows a label for the rear surround binding posts that says something along the lines of "rear surrounds or front high speakers"). It's not giving you the option of 9.1, probably because they didn't have time or desire to stop and add two more channels to the hardware. It's possible that Outlaw could do the same via a firmware update after the product launches.

That's my hope. Last spring I had and installer draw up some plans and rough estimates for my yet to be built basement theater and they had drawings for height speakers. At the time I wasn't sure I would ever want them but the more I've read about the technology (with respect to human sound perception) more I think the height channels would be better than the rear surrounds. I'll need to hear it first but it is very interesting. The Dolby Volume is more important (to my wife especially) but PLIIz stuff would be very nice.

Is it necessary to plan for either the front height speakers or the rear surrounds? Why not both (and run the speaker wire for both) so you can implement whichever approach makes the most sense in the future? It seems safe to assume the 997 will not easily permit the height front speakers, but in 3 years when the 999 comes out, wouldn't it be nice to be able to easily add the new amps for your 9.1 system?

I could/would wire for both but I am planning for Triad inwalls so I might want to make a decision before installation. This is all planning at this point because if the economy doesn't turn around there won't be any theater.

Ah OK, when you said "spec", I thought you meant from Dolby. Hardware implementation is going to be all over the place at first. Remember when PLIIx was first introduced? It ended up on plenty of 6.1 receivers, which nullified its main advantage (stereo rears) over EX decoding. Similarly, it may take a few models before we start seeing full 9.1-channel implementations of PLIIz.

I was actually thinking of both specs to a degree. On the one side, when did Dolby start to offer manufacturers enough detail (either a finalized or draft spec of PLIIz or even just a white paper and schedule for development) to justify including the support in hardware? On the other side, how long ago was the hardware for the R-972 finalized enough to make adding two more analog channels (or adding hardware to integrate a second zone into the main system) practical?

As you say, short of somebody like Lexicon adding support to the MC-12 (which has the advantage of significant flexibility in output channels), it may be a while before we see 9.1 hardware available to support PLIIz and rear surrounds simultaneously.

Sorry I didnt catch that!

Good question. I should drop into the Sherwood thread at AVS to see if there's any mention either way. Worst case, if it ends up that Sherwood/Outlaw can't do 9.1 out, then hopefully they'll at least allow for 5.1+back or 5.1+height. Options are always helpful. Unfortunately, Lex never activated the two "AUX" channels on the MC-12. I doubt they will, considering it's an 8-year-old platform and they're probably concentrating on its replacement.

I've loosely followed the thread. Details remain scarce, so we'll probably not know for sure if the hardware could offer 9.1 until we see a manual. The "5.1+height or 7.1" option still seems plausible, but unless they've already got the firmware in place I doubt they'll delay to get it included at launch. (I'd hope they wouldn't, at least, considering the delays they've already had.)