I have been waiting months for the 972 to ship so we can start the 60 day countdown to the 997.

In talking with Sherwood today, they claim volume shipments to dealers starting ib two weeks.

I have not said anything or bugged anyone, but am ready to pull the trigger on a 997 and leave Denon ASAP.

Can anyone inside of Outlaw give us the final ship date where the 60 day countdown to the 997 starts?

See Scott's post from earlier today (the second post in this thread). The 60 days will start from probably somewhere around that two week mark, but Outlaw won't promise an exact 60-day release.

I'm sure we'll never know what happened, but I would sure love to hear the story when its all over. I still can't figure out how we went from the optimism in Outlaw's initial announcement of the 997 that it would be released by early 2009, to a late 2009 release at best. What changed? It sounds like there have been some issues with the Reon chip implementation, but Outlaw's most recent update (8/25/09) make it sound like there are some major issues with the quality of production. The discussion of making sure Outlaw's changes have been "properly implemented" are interesting to me. Especially since they had "pilot production samples" in June.

I seriously wonder about the future of Outlaw's relationship with Sherwood.

Sherwood press release announcing 'official' introduction of the 972:

http://www.noydcom.com/press_release/sherwood/trinnov/

You have to wonder if SN held off in order release during the CEDIA 2009. Big Splash, with all the media present.
http://www.cedia.net/expo/index2009.php

Certainly would make sense, after all, that's good advertising as well as good timing. Also makes sense to me with the announcement from Scott yesterday, no doubt knowing full well the R-972 was about to have an official release announcement.

So now with the '60 day' clock starting, we can be sure the 997 will not be available before Nov 10th. I'm kidding, but it seems like a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. I'm in 100% support of Outlaw waiting until they're fully ready for it to be shipped out.

I've waited this long, a handful more months I can deal with.

Encouraging news. In the past, has Outlaw offered combo deals on new releases? Is there any possible incentive for me to hold off on my purchase of a 7700 for a couple of months?

Combo deals are pretty standard policy, and they have been available right out of the gate in the past. I wouldn't think the 997 would be any different.

This could make one of the best who-done-it movies of all time!

Colonel Mustard, in the Libray, with the Candelabra.