I like the looks, and I don't feel a few logos on the front would hurt the appearance at all. I notice that the 978 has a headphone jack. Might be nice if Dolby headphone was included!

The Sherwood R-972 has Dolby Headphone and I believe the 997 was going to have it. I thought I remembered reading that the 978 had Dolby Headphone too, but I can't find it.

Forgive my ignorance, but what does the "Pro kit" give you? What does it add?

An individually calibrated mic (and a really nice boom stand), software that can take up to 32 measurements, the ability to edit, save and load different target curves.

Just the Pro cal alone is worth it, but tweaking the target curve made a noticeable difference. Plus, I have an "alternate" set of surrounds that I swap in for SACD/DVD-A and a corresponding calibration file for them that I load.

Jeff

The Model 990 had it, too, as did the Model 1070/970...

Side issue here, how does the 990 handle the sound when DTS is the source? Does it bypass Dolby Headphone?

I'm a little disappointed. I was really hoping for 9.2/11.2 output for the 978. as I'll be wiring my theater for 11.2. But then again I was planning on the 998; any news on 9.x or 11.x on the 998? I agree that the silver knob looks goofy.

I never tried it, but Dolby Headphone was a processing mode applied after the original signal (whether Dolby Digital, DTS, or PCM stereo) was decoded. The Model 990 could apply Pro Logic IIx to a DTS source, so I would expect that it could apply Headphone to DTS as well.

I'm with you. I'm replacing an Onk Pro 885 mainly motivated by Audyssey MultEQ XT 32, but I want DSX Wides as well as much improved sound quality that will come with a 978, an Integra 80.2 or an Onk 5508. Plus I use Audyssey Pro and the pics of the 978 don't show a way to interface with a laptop running the Pro software.

I suppose I can wait until the 978 is released to see what the "state of the art DACs" bring to the marketplace and maybe influence the next Onk/Integra models which *do* have DSX.

I don't want to diss this model, so I should probably just lurk for a while ...

Jeff

It's been so long ago now that my memory is unclear, but wasn't the aborted 997 suposed to support Dolby PLIIz ? Isn't that 9.1 ?