Regarding the 60 day delay... I don't think it has anything to do with production or debugging. From something I read (long ago) I recall this is mandatory and part of the "price" Outlaw had to pay in order to get a partner (with deeper pockets) to share development costs. While OL may well use it to technical advantage and extend it if they need to buy even additional time, it's a business based decision.

The 60 day delay is contractual, but Outlaw may choose to wait longer if there are things they want corrected.

Honestly I'm starting to think that the whole project is dead. This processor is so late to market that its obsolete, perhaps Outlaw finally realized it and has opted to partner with Onkyo for the next iteration of the 997. I really want to wait a little longer but anymore and I might just get the new PR-SC887. Even if the 997 isn't dead I just don't think its worth owning anymore. This latest annoucement has really tainted the whole thing for me.

I'm wondering the same. I would hope and expect that the Outlaws are actively trying to figure out what needs to be in the 999, and also trying to figure out a better partnering strategy.

The 886 is a good move to keep them in the prepro business, but it's got to be a stopgap to the next generation, not the 997 (RIP).

I don't think it's dead. Sherwood is going ahead with their receiver, and (as I noted in another thread yesterday) this 886 deal had to be at least a few months in the making. The 886 can't be a long-term solution because Onkyo won't be keeping it in production that long. I'd guess that the 886 will be discontinued by the time we see 2010 on our calendars, based on the way Onkyo handles product cycles. The 997 is late, and they wanted to offer something comparable to the 990 that included HDMI for folks who didn't want to wait any longer. The 886 was a sensible choice for that. I'm not sure how much it changes the launch plans for the 997. They're still going to release it as soon as it is ready and they can get production space at the factory, and that schedule still depends to varying degrees on what other people are doing.

What I do wonder is if Outlaw is evaluating options for manufacturing partners on the 999 as an alternative to Sherwood/Inkel. Those sorts of changes take years to produce actual product, and whatever decisions get made this year regarding a successor to the 997 will take a long while to reach our ears.

I find the whole thing very odd. Why would you sell your competitors product. It seems risky to intentionally dilute you customer base with another brand of processor. I guess it's possible that this might help with amp sales. Seems like a big gamble just to have something to sell.

I really don't find this offering odd at all. Anyone who's been following this forum must be aware that many in Outlaw's customer base have been at least impatient for a pre/pro with more advanced features than the 990. As the 997 has not been forthcomming, Outlaw is offering a product which they are endowing with their considerable prestiege to address that demand as they did with SMS. Though they are offering it at a price point that is not particularly encouraging a lot of sales.
I think this is merely an expression of sensitivity to a vocal part of the user base.
They can't be particularly pleased with Sherwood at this point, but I would think an alliance between Outlaw and Onkyo would be very unlikely as it doesn't suit the market model of either company.

999? Why not a 998?

Model 998, Model 999, Model 9500, Model 997.925 - whatever...

Koyaan I see your point but I still find the strategy odd. I do follow this forum daily and anyone can easily sense the frustration and impatience with not having a more advanced prepro but selling your competitors product doesn't solve the problem. Most Outlaw customers who want the 997 want it because it's an Outlaw product which includes all benefits that go along with that. There is a difference between selling the Onkyo 886 and selling the SMS-1, they don't offer a competing product to the SMS so adding it to their product line seems like a better fit. I liken Outlaw selling the 886 to Emotiva selling the 990 just to appease some of their customers.

Reading Outlaw's own words describe why this doesn't fit their business model, especially the second paragragh:

About Outlaw Audio

Outlaw Audio is a completely different kind of consumer electronics company. Our high performance products are available to you exclusively on the Internet. The only place you can evaluate our products is in your own home, where it counts the most.

While there are other Internet retailers that sell consumer electronics products, most of them are merely reselling the same merchandise that is commonly available through traditional sales channels. By contrast, Outlaw designs and manufactures its own brand of high performance audio/video components. The advantage of this approach is obvious. By offering these products directly to you via the Internet, we can eliminate the additional markup required to support a traditional "bricks and mortar" retail store. As a result of this new approach, an Outlaw designed component offers you substantially more performance for a much lower price than any competing product.