Interesting news... Lately I'm beginning to doubt that we'll even see the 978 being released.

I've been thinking about this very likely possibility lately. Outlaw has a fairly close business relationship with Marantz. They must know or have an idea of what's coming down the pipeline from Marantz. With those rumors of an AV7007 and AV8007, I'm left wondering if Outlaw's silence and lack of communication may just be a holding strategy until those products from Marantz become available at which point Outlaw would announce that they won't be releasing the 978 and that they'll instead sell those two processors from Marantz that cover the same price point as the 978 and beyond.

I mean they missed a window of opportunity for releasing the 978 when there was a certain void in the market at that quality to price point ratio. Now they may find themselves competing against a new similarly priced product from Marantz with more features and perhaps improved SQ WRT it's predecessor (AV7005), a SQ difference that may have become marginal between the upcoming AV7007 and the 978. So Outlaw may be wondering if the amount of units they're going to sell would warrant a full production run or become a financial disaster.

jam, you beat me to it - those are the thoughts I had after reading the Marantz announcement. I even wonder if Marantz' parent company has perhaps taken an investment position in Outlaw.

Heh....why on Earth would they do that? D&M already has the low/middle/high-ends covered and a vastly better known stable of brands. And they've already got a presence on internet portals such as Crutchfield. What exactly would Outlaw do for a company like D&M?

Best,

Yeah sure that's the ticket. In fact the reason the D&M has already bought into Outlaw is so they can follow the internet direct model that is in action right here. Imagine how helpful it'll be to get feedback via an open internet forum from potential McIntosh shoppers about the wisdom of outfitting your new Bentley with some gold plated external DAC or how anti-American it is to choose the Danish Lnygdorf RoomPerfect system over a nice 'merican competitor like Audyssey...

Come on people. Wild speculation should go in the appropiate "After Hours" thread --
Outlaw Rumoured Name Change already in the works

I also find it interesting to see that Sherwood Newcastle is still advertising the R-972 on its website which was to be the basis of the 997. I know there were a lot of problems, but perhaps they have worked through them. Makes me wonder if Outlaw would have been better off slogging onward then. Their website also shows HDMI 1.4a compliant units including one with Networking and another with the same video scaling that is supposed to be in the 998. Both of these include the some version of SNAP room equalization.

"sneak preview of our own next week for a major new home theater product. Although this is NOT an Outlaw model, it will be the first time you'll see it on our site, or perhaps anywhere else."

Take what you will from this announcement.

For me, the lack of Gonk on the forum, lack of news or the 978, and the rumor of the Marantz product...

Well, should be interesting to see what the Marantz AV7007 and AV8007 are all about.

There is a youtube video briefly demonstrating the 7007.

It strikes me that when the March update was posted there was already ample grumbling and speculation about some horrible change in direction. The bits of info that Outlaw does release seem to be not merely scrawled on the back of a carry out bag and tossed at the webmaster, but very carefully measured in both content and tone.

I specifically will quote: " When you put this all together, the picture at the Hideout is quite bright. The Model 978 is squarely on the path to completion and we have a full slate of other products across the full spectrum of the audio/video market planned for release. We appreciate both your patience and your patronage. You will soon see that your faith in the Outlaws will be more than justified as we continue to lift the curtains on these groundbreaking new products."
Now lord knows that back when the Sherwood 972 was at the point that it was hitting reviewers and the Outlaw sister product was scratched that signalled a great big "whoa nelly" moment for their relationship with that manufacturer and as a result it seems that the Outlaw firm's leaders decided to say "we cannot tie our selves to such a relationship if we want to continue designing and marketing processors...". The carefully chosen words in the March update certainly lead me to beleive they have confidence in the the direction that they have gone since that decision. Nowhere does it suggest that they are "retrenching", narrowing their focus or otherwise doing anything other than moving forward toward better products offered exclusively through them.

I really wish others would comment on just the announcements that are relavent to the 978 and start new threads to hash out details of other speculative directions. Threads are really easy to create ...

Lighten up, boys. It's so easy to get you rilled up it's funny. Smile and be happy.

Don't hate the playa....hate the game.

I don't see how any of these "glass half full" folk can rationalize what we're seeing with their position, but hey....time will tell. We're all here because we are (or were) customers.

Best,