Hi akiddoc,

I have been using an R-972 for a couple months and have not experienced any major bugs or issues. I bought the R-972 on an impulse (got a tremendous deal) as waiting for the 978 had become too painful. I did not do a lot of research on what the issues people said were beforehand. It is possible they are still there but I just have not come across them yet. And I also have a 5.1 setup. It's a relatively simple configuration. The only thing I have noticed is that it does take a couple seconds for the R-972 to lock on the audio again if I pause a movie or change the surround mode.

By the way the first thing I did was upgrading the R-972 to the current firmware version of 1.47 (available from Sherwood USA site). The Trinnov setup took about 15 minutes and it was very straight forward. It has improved the sound field and image of my 5.1 configuration. The sweet spot is exactly where I had put the Trinnov microphone during the setup. Now I hear a lot more nuances especially from the surround channels. Even my wife and my 8 year old notice a vast improvement over our previous setup. To be fair, I had never owned another receiver/processor with Audyssey or other room EQ capabilities. I cannot compare Trinnov against others (Audyssey, Yamaha..etc.). Therefore I am still interested in getting my hands on the 978 if it's available soon.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your R-972 audition.