Forgive me if this has been posted before, but I didn't see it.

Jeff has posted the following link in the R-972 thread on the AVS Forum to the manual:

prillaman.net/sn2007avr/R-972(A)_ENG_090225.pdf

Sorry for the clunkiness, but you'll have to add the www to the front of the link (the forum software doesn't allow parentheses in web links).

While there will probably be some changes to the Outlaw version, this is an interesting preview of what we might be looking forward to.

Scott

Gonk - Thanks for hosting the R-972 manual. Looks like the Sales Manager of Sherwood-Newcastle cannot get his own company to add the manual to their site...

I got that file from somebody at AVS who got an early copy of the manual from somewhere and wanted to get it hosted. It's very possible that Jeff at Sherwood is waiting for a final draft of the manual before posting it on the company site, which makes the draft copy I'm hosting the latest version available for download. Or maybe I'm just faster than their webmaster...

I think you're just faster than their webmaster. There has to be a final copy if consumers already have the R-972 in their hands. It doesn't look like they update their web site very often.

OK, I just spent some time looking over the R-972 manual. I must say I am completely underwhelmed! Not by the product, but by the manual and how poorly written it was. I sure hope Outlaw does a much better job on their manual, but based on what I saw they would have to be better! If I see one more "When selecting" I think I am going to throw up. I have done technical writing/documentation for many years as well as managed many engineers who produced documentation for a variety of different projects. If I ever saw something as poorly written as this I would have tossed them out on there ear!

There were a couple of things in there that I had not heard about up until now and I am wondering if the Outlaw version will have these as well.

1) The remote control was interesting. I liked that it supported macros. Sure would like more than 3 though. I liked that it does both IR and RF. I, also, noticed that the remote has an LCD screen, however I didn't see any reference to what would be displayed there!

2) I think the Bi-Amp feature is kind of cool. I wonder if Outlaw will allow a similar thing with the preamp outputs?

3)The multi-room features are nice as well. I have a very balanced 5.1 set of SF speakers right now, however I am considering getting some very high end speakers and tube amps for stereo listening. That combo really wouldn't fit in well with the rest of the surround speakers. I am thinking I can use the second room for driving my stereo setup. Although the Room 2 inputs are restricted my primary source for stereo will be my Oppo BDP-83 using the stereo analog outputs connected to the CD analog inputs, so not a problem for me.

4) I love my Sirius Radio. I sure wish this was going to be Sirius compatible. Does anyone know whether it will support Sirius as well? No mention in the documentation so my guess is not since I think the interfaces were established long before the companies merged.

5) A minor complaint on the design; why would they put the microphone input on the back! Granted it is not something that you will be using often, but for many of us getting to the back of the equipment can be quite an ordeal. I really appreciated that the 990 and the SMS-1 had their mics on the front side. I wonder if Outlaw will realize this and stick to the standard they had on the 990 and put up front.

Overall I am excited about the new 997. I can't wait until I get a hold of one!

I was looking over the manual for both the 972 and the 965. One specification I thought was of interest was the wieght of the units. It would seem that the 972 is about 10 lbs less than the 965. Of course this might not be the final spec on the 972.

I just took a look at the 972 Product sheet. The product sheet indicates 27 kg (approx. 59.4lbs) but the manual indicates 40.8 lbs.

Yeah, the manual didn't do much for me at all...

"I think the Bi-Amp feature is kind of cool. I wonder if Outlaw will allow a similar thing with the preamp outputs?"

That would just be a Y cable adapter.

As Noah said, bi-amping with a pre/pro is easy, just split the output signal and run it into two separate amps. This too gets much closer to what you want to do with bi-amping, if each of the amps you're running into has it's own power supply. Unlike the amps built into a receiver which all draw from the same power supply; where bi-amping offers a dubious improvement.

What mdrconsult may be talking about is the multi-zone support. If the 6th and 7th channel of the 997 can be assigned to zone 2 and then connected to their own amp in another room that also could be advantageous (provided zone 2 can be from digital sources, and not just limited to the analog inputs as so many receivers do).