A leak or two? There's been a string of "real soon now" announcements for a couple of years. The 990 was released 5-6 years ago and Outlaw has been unable to deliver a successor. Folks can hem and haw over the why's and the excuses, but that's the bottom line.

My take on Outlaw is that they do some products well...like their amplifier line (made by ATI) and their subs (made by Hsu, I think). For those kinds of things, I'd buy new product without hesitation. As far as surround processors go, the 990 is/was a great processor, but it is really showing it's age these days. If someone needed a processor now or in the near future, I don't see any reason to buy it from Outlaw. The processors they're reselling are cheaper elsewhere if you shop around. There's also a wide variety of high quality product in the typical Outlaw price universe available for purchase all over the place. This boat has sailed.

978-998......Does SEEM like a train going nowhere with limited information on these processors.However having the 990 for some years now and never being disappointed with it's performance I will still hold out at least till the first quarter of the new year.From my recollection that is the time when the 978 will raise it's head. That's when I will take my shot.
Room correction is important however using my Radio Shack SPL meter I see no reason to step up to the 998 just for room correction.
EARS...seem to be the best tools.
At least it my understanding that one will have room correction and one will not. If that is not the difference I stand corrected and that is another reason for peoples' frustration about the lack of information.

According to Peter T, the 978 will have Audyssey (version not specified) while the 998 will have Trinnov.

A manufacturer couldn't give away a prepro these days without some form of room correction.

I had a good laugh seeing how people get so worked up and come to so many conclusions. Reality check, it is a pre-processor. I think zonk summed it up best... either buy now or wait. you bitching about not getting any updates or claiming vaporware accomplishes nothing. If they gave us more updates, you guys would be bitching about not getting firm delivery dates. Let's face it, there is no pleasing you guys.

It'll be ready when it is ready and it will be a very good value for the feature set.

How is an SPL meter going to undo what the room is adding to the recording? For what? You can't even set speaker levels accurately with your ears (hence the reason people buy SPL meters).

First I am not sure what you mean by "How is an SPL meter going to undo what the room is adding to the recording"?
Having good room acoustics/diffusers along with a SPL meter does help correct room deficiencies.
I was not saying that Audyssey or Trinnov were unimportant.
Dubbing stages use the same Radio Shack analog meter to check the calibration of their speakers each day.
The EARS comment was simply to emphasize that every one hears things differently. What might sound good to you in your HT environment might not cut the cake with someone else.

Bitching is not the reason I posted my opinion about an upcoming "pre-processor" from Outlaw. I believe that I made it pretty clear that I am loyal to Outlaw and was very happy with the performance of the 990.
Anxious yes...bitching???...no.
More like excitement about what Outlaw is going to put on the table.
Thoughts,and opinions is what a Forum is all about.

Thanks Skiman for the information.

Every room is an equalizer, adding its own sound to the recording you're listening to. Suppose you find a narrow peak at 46Hz that is resulting in one-noted bass. How will diffusers and a SPL meter help you pull down that peak and get bass that is more even? Dubbing stages are tuned to industry standard curves using sophisticated measurement gear and equalization. Earlier you said "using my Radio Shack SPL meter I see no reason to step up to the 998 just for room correction", which seems to conflate calibration with room correction. They're not the same. Using a SPL meter to set speaker levels is different than sampling the sound at multiple locations and equalizing away the room's negative effects.

Thanks for explaining.

You're welcome. At this point in technology, I wouldn't consider a pre-pro without room correction (Audyssey or Trinnov). You'll hear less of your room but more of what's in the recording.

In your opinion which room correction technology is better than the other...Audyssey or Trinnov)? Along with that question do you think there will different price points for these different technologies involving room correction in the 978-998....Price points base on that alone or will there be more whistles on one rather than the other?
People on this forum seem to be rallying towards the Trinnov.