Preliminary info regarding the AV7005 has been available on Marantz's website for several weeks already. It does look like an attractive product with a very good feature set but lacks Audyssey MultEQ XT32/Sub EQ HT, which remains very high on my wish list. In addition, there is no torroidal transformer and the product description makes no mention of the use of high-end DACs... not deal-breakers but certainly worth hoping for in a separate pre/pro.

Scott's apparent promise, at the outset of his announcement, that the 978 will be "the "audiophile-grade" product" we expect gives me hope that my wish list might yet be satisfied. If it can be done for a price similar to that of the AV7005, trading network connectivity for the features I've mentioned in other posts, I'm definitely in.