Got my 886 last week and had a chance to do a preliminary setup on it. So far I like it. 2 channel analog sounds good, and I actually think I like it better than the 970. It does have a ton of features (most of which I probably won't use). I've hooked it up via multichannel analog and HDMI, but thus far have only listened to multichannel sources via HDMI. I'm going to try multichannel analog this weekend.
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HT:
Pioneer VSX-1120
Salk Songbirds, SongCenter, SongSurrounds
Panasonic BDP-45
Outlaw LFM-2
2 Channel:
Red Dragon M-500 monoblocks
BAT-VK3i
Salk HT-1TL's
Apple TV
Beresford 7520 DAC
Surgex XS10