I suspect that no one wants to get the 978 out faster than Outlaw. I also suspect they have run into some unexpected (well many) snags in development. It would be nice to get some news from Outlaw one way or another. Lots of loyal fans here.

Too bad there is not any good low cost(<1K) competitors. If someone like Yamaha or Denon removed the amps out of one of their receivers and called it a pre/pro, do you think it would sell? Probably only a niche market for that sort of thing.

Bob

Well as of yesterday Feb 3 Audioholics announced Emotiva's new XMC-1 pre/pro. Check out the site and the short intro by them. This is not a full review. Emotiva wants $1499 for this unit. I am not sure I am willing to pay that kind of money for an EMO. If that is the case I would be willing to first go with the 978 provided the price is respectable, then the Marantz 7005. One or the other but nothing else. With EMO's track record of early adoptor problems I would be skeptical.

What about the DHC-40.2, have you head anything about this one? A bit less expensive compared to the Marantz. Bob

I imagine Emotiva is going to deliver a much better product this time without all the bugs. I listened to the entire audio dialog while making pizza dough and it seems they've invested in a lot of quality outside work to complete this unit. I'm not an Emotiva fanboy and I don't own any of their products but after what happen with the UMC-1 I can't imagine they'd release something that isn't polished and fully functional.

The release date is slated for June/July.

I'm curious about the TACT TCS 3 e room correction they're using.

Not much word from Gonk recently!! Could he be "too busy" like in December? Could it be that a second round of beta testing is in progress?

If the Emotiva was announced recently but will not be available for purchase until June/July (which probably means August), then I imagine the 978 will not enjoy the presence of our company until the fall.

I imagine it's possible that all is going well and Peter is about to announce some great news. Even so, from announcement to our living rooms will take some time. I f all is not well, then I expect to see some more great Outlaw deals on Marantz pre/pro's and receivers.

I don't see the correlation? I believe Outlaw is much more tight lipped than Emotiva and I'm hoping we'll see something in the next few months.

The correlation is time between announcement and actually delivery to customer. You have stated in a previous post concerning Emotiva: "The release date is slated for June/July" which is 5 months from now which is consistent with a lot of new products released to the market.

Just take a look at most consumer electronic such as TV's or even observe the musical instrument companies. From the time that they actual show a new product to when it's actually available to you is always a period of time. The new Tv lines were shown last month but will not start to be available until the end of March through the end of June. The new Yamaha, Denon's and Onkyo we read about 6 months before we can purchase one.

That brings us back to Outlaw. They haven't even officially announced the 978 is set to go and being sent to manufacturer. As far as we know, or best guess, there are some units being tested. So lets assume for sake of discussion that Outlaw does the grand unveiling this week. Just how long from now do you think that Fedex will drop one at our door?

If the 990 is any indication, it was announced as a surprise and shipped two weeks later. The 978 has been in the works for almost three years. Outlaw wants to get it perfect,but once they do I would think you will be able to buy one pretty quickly. Certainly less than 6 months.

Let's hope that's the way it works. The 990 was manufactured in Korea, the 978 in P.R.C. Does the location matter? I don't know. But this time it's no surprise and how many customers are left that are waiting to upgrade? I hope my speculation is wrong we can accept delivery in two weeks from soon.