Well some folks will certainly be banging the drum against the Marantz products for some of its failings (or country of origin...) and if Marantz was transparent enough to host a forum I'm sure enough "customers" would be be wailing and gnashing their teeth that at least some of the Marantz marketing guys would be terrified that their product will be a horrible flop too...

I've mostly given up complaining about the Chinese manufacturing since they're all doing it now. D&M Holdings (Marantz/Denon/etc) seems to have the capital and the manpower to crank out product on a consistent basis that appears to be well regarded by reviewers/consumers. So I doubt they have much to gnash their teeth over.

I'm actually using a Denon AVR-1912 (also from D&M Holdings) these days that I won in an office door prize. I'd planned on selling it on Ebay and then said "ah, what the heck..let's see what it sounds like." In short, it sounds pretty darned good and is loaded with creature comforts. If it had pre-outs, I'd probably just make it the main processor for my living room. I don't really notice the cheap receiver amplification since I feed everything below 100hz to my remaining LFM-1.

Best,

This is normal and completely expected as the Marantz SR7007 is a receiver and not a processor/preamp. However, the AV7007 and AV8007 rumored above are processors/preamps and would definitely have balanced pre-outs as their respective predecessors did (AV7005 & AV8003).

WRT Audyssey MultEQ XT32 not being in the mix on the SR7007 at $1800, this is in keeping with the pricing scheme at D+M's Denon division that begins offering XT32 on the Denon AVR-4311CI at $2100. As for the competition, the Onkyo TX-NR3009 and Integra DTR-70.3 receivers that introduce XT32 on those brands sell for about $2200 and $2300 respectively.

If anything is a "nail in the coffin" for the Marantz and competing products I suspect it is their pricing -- the dealers that are still around seem to be interested in only moving complete "starter systems" with inexpensive DACs and such from small manufacturers that sell for $500 or so COMPLETE and then the "no holds barred" stuff that starts around $20,000

The curse of the 99% that once shopped at places like Tweeter is that Best Buy is thisclose to gone...

The way things are going, Outlaw will be selling a Marantz SR5007 with the amps disabled before the 978 ships. Makes you almost wonder why they don't have Marantz create an OEM version of the 500x line every year without the power-amps and an Outlaw faceplate and call it the 91x.

Unfortunately the 978 is yet to be released and we are almost half way through 2012. At this point it does not matter how good it is or what features it has or how much it costs. Outlaw is losing the interest of everyone that was focused on the 978. A decision to scrap the 978 and get out of the processor business is the likely next move. Even if they build it and market it they probably won't make enough $$$ to recoup the cost so they should cut their losses now. I still love their amps and subs and my 990 but the 978 is a lost cause for me.

Where do I begin to agree on this. Xenonman this is painful to read what you are saying but sadly TRUE. As I said subtly before, Outlaw needs to get the 978 out NOW. Where you say that even if they build it they won't recoup any losses is something that I'm now seeing for myself. As much as they are working on the 978 to get it right, I don't think the market will even care at that point. Slow off the starting line and you loose the race. If they do get the 978 out and selling how long will those sales last and what is their next project after that one? I forsee a few good reviews on it and then very mediocre sales and it will fizzle out into oblivion.

Outlaw should refreshen their line. Bring out a two channel amp, bring out an AVR, bring out a quality bluray player...but mostly bring out something.

The possibility of Outlaw scrapping the processor as to not falling into a deeper financial pit may be the very next move as Xenonman just pointed out.

XT32 is still a differentiating item for me, so I think there is still value to putting out the 978. But yeah, the more delay there is, obviously, the more potential customers they lose.

I have to say that I was rather upset about the Marantz news seeing that this might impede Outlaw even more from producing the 978. It seems also that these receivers are offering a lot more bang for the buck in relation to what Outlaw is considering for the 978.
Airplay, 4K, and I think more HDMI options....I wish this SR7007 was a Processor or at least have balanced inputs.
Which makes me wonder if Marantz will be launching any new processors in the near future or was Oulaw helping them rid themselves of a heavy inventory of 7005's.
Well no matter if you are looking for or need a receiver these new Marantz products are a very nice piece to add to anyones HT.

If Marantz offers an AV7007 processor with just XT, then there's not a lot of reason to upgrade from the AV7005 IMO.

Too bad Denon didn't put XT32 in the 3313 either.