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!