The 998 has been put on hold until we fully complete and introduce the Model 978.

AVR and processor technologies have changed so much in the last year (and will continue to evolve with new chips, solutions etc) that we have to re-assess every feature that we originally planned. There simply is no other way to overlook this reality.
By economic necessity, anything that we build must serve us for at least two years or more. In that regard, we are quite comfortable with the 978 because it focuses on simplicity and sound quality and affords most of our customers with what they want.

The ongoing features "arms race" has heated up again with the bar being raised (or lowered depending on the way you look at it) every year. With these new "features" comes complexity. We are not saying this is bad. What we are saying is that feature crammed products are not what we are about. Therefore in the near future we have to look at our available choices and take the best shot for our customer base.


Our pulling the plug on the original 998 was the most painful decision we ever made. We had thousands on the "very interested' 'list. Yet had we gone ahead we would have suffered the same fate that the Newcastle 972 AVR has encountered. It would have been a nightmare for you and us.

For those that want the latest in features and options, we carry one of the best "players" in that arena- Marantz. Their parent, (D&M Holdings), is a massive company with large worldwide resources and even they take their time developing new models.

The new Model 978 will be a product that we want for ourselves, just as we all own and love our 990's. The step-up 998 should be good enough that we will want to make the upgrade. That is the bar that we have set for ourselves and we are re-thinking now just what we have to do. It will not be easy

That is a long answer. However, after so many delays that have mostly been out of our control, we prefer to provide you with our straight-forward thinking.

Peter