Actually, I'm still very pleased with the 990. The major thing that would make me concider upgrading would be a good equalizer/room correction system.
Wifi and real internet connectivity,including bullit proof updates,would be cool, but not esential.
HDMI support woud also be nice, but not essential.
I think most of us have Oppos, or some other Blu-ray player that does a good job with video and audio processing, so , to me , these are pretty much redundant.
Just give us a pre/pro that provides sublime audio , infinite life, and hassel free operation. A simple task N'cest pas?
(you've already done it with amps)

Any further clarity on the parts situation and its potential impact on the 978? We're nearly a month separated from the earthquake in Japan and less than two months from the most recently stated target for the 978's release. I'm assuming 3Q 2011 is more realistic at this point?

No one is talking about their parts shortages yet, but we know they are there and you will see the results by June or even earlier.

Also, the supply of Marantz AV 7005's will dry up very soon for all retailers- both B&M and Internet. This is not conjecture. It is a fact.

Peter

When you say "results" Peter, are you saying the 978 might be release by June, or that you will know something in regards to the parts situation, and how that will affect delivery?

I think by "results" he means "results of the earthquake/tsunami damage on Japanese manufacturing." Until details are available - which plants are affected, how shipping is affected, etc. - it is impossible to predict what will happen to a product like the Model 978.

Well, now even Mother Nature has thrown us a curve, but let's face it, our lust for new stuff should be looked at in perspective alongside the human suffering that is taking place in Japan, as I'm sure it is for the vast majority of us. That being said, Peter's somewhat cryptic comments (cryptic in the sense that there are no actual facts in his brief note regarding the 978), it's pretty easy to draw the conclusion that we will not be seeing this thing any time soon. Combined with his remarks regarding the Marantz, things are looking pretty grim in the pre-pro world - anyone care to comment on why XT32 is so far superior to the room correction offered by the 7005, and why waiting for the ever-elusive 978 is a good idea? I'm not knocking anybody or anything, just trying to decide if I should look elsewhere or hang in for the duration.

Simply put, based on what we know now there is simply no way to know when the 978 will be released. My guess-and that's all it is-would be Q4 of this year. Further, I wouldn't be surprised if the release was very late in Q4.

As for the pending 978 vs. the AV7005; that will have to be an individual decision based on myriad factors, many of which will be speculative and subjective. Examples include, but are not limited to-patience, sound quality differences (I predict a slight-but not Earth shaking advantage for the 978), and the value of XT32. For me, I have dual subs so XT32 is worth waiting for but if I only had one, my gut tells me that the higher EQ resolution of XT32 versus XT will not offer a significant difference in sound quality so I would lean toward the AV7005.

What I will do at this point is wait until CEDIA in September because prepros from the usual AV manufacturer suspects tend to be introduced then. If nothing new or interesting is shown, and there is no clear date for the 978's release, I'll probably go for a AV7005 at that point. Hopefully, either the 978 will be out by then or we'll at least have a fairly firm release date.

Sad, but I tend to think you're probably right. Very tough to speculate though. The product seems to be pretty far along in terms of the R&D aspect. Now it comes to when it can actually be built. I would think you'd need to be at that point before even moving into a beta testing process. The question is when can production begin to resume at some of these chip facilities that experienced damage.

As a side note, my "Registered" date on the left coincides with Outlaw's announcement of the 997. I had been waiting for a couple years for Outlaw to release a processor with HDMI switching and some form of room correction technology. I was intrigued by the 997's inclusion of Trinnov technology and signed up to talk about it. I fear we may hit year 3 since I registered before we see the 978 released. Not pointing any fingers, just an observation...

I dunno, since the 990, one can't help but notice during this time frame, how many generations of the mainstream manufacturers products have come and gone with each adding newer and newer feature sets? How long would they have remained in business with three year and older product on the shelves(assuming it was even still available)? Luckily, Outlaw has many other products to sell to its loyal customers(including myself), however, realistically, the focal point of the business has generally always revolved around its Pre-Pro and AVRs and with this amount of time gone by and nothing on the horizon, to be honest, loyalty has its limits.