This is complete and total speculation ...

When you add up the clues, there really aren't that many options. What company is based in North America (note they didn't say US), makes modern pre/pros, builds in China, and sells in B&M stores? Narrow that down to companies that would have the clout to pull something like this. Then narrow that list down to a products that compete in the same price segment as Outlaw.

I think it was NAD.

Possibly Parasound, but I don't know where those are made.

Emotiva just bought Sherbourn, right? Is Sherbourn headquartered in the U.S.? That's my personal bet.

And I thought Parasound was out of the SSP market?

Bingo:

http://www.sherbourn.com/



The only "gotcha" is this:



That would no longer be B&M.

I don't know that Sherbourn would have enough clout to cause a factory to abandon a product that they had invested that much time and money in (since there's a lot of lost work for the factory as well as Outlaw involved in killing the Model 978 now). Plus their status as a subsidiary of Emotiva (or however the two are related now) would make it hard to classify them as a true "brick & mortar" sort of outfit.

Sherbourn used to be B&M, but maybe they aren't any longer.

There are a lot of smart people here and on AVS. It won't remain a secret for that long in terms of who the other company is. The list is pretty short as it is. Personally, I don't consider Anthem and Outlaw competitors.

But it might be NAD ...

They don't even have an XT32 SSP either. What a way to cut out the competition before it even exists !!

ATI? But I would imagine that Outlaw's relationship with them is pretty good. There is also Audio Control and their Maestro SSP, but I wouldn't think they'd view Outlaw as competition either. Anyone else anyone can think of?

I personally believe that the two most likely B&M suspects are NAD and Anthem. Being a Canadian it pains me to say that.

NAD has recently released the feature poor T 187 processor ($3K) with Audyssey MultEQ XT that is made in China so the 978 really could have hurt them big time.

As for Anthem, while their two processors are made in Canada (AVM 50v & D2v), their AVRs are made in China. Nonetheless, the 978 would have competed with at least the lower end AVM 50v ($6K) and I believe quite favorably at that.

I forgot to add... unfortunately for these two Canadian companies, I'm not considering either of their offerings as I just don't like their design approach, their feature list and cost/quality ratio. Like I said in the other thread, I've got my sights set up on Marantz's AV7007 and possibly AV8007.

After reading the letter this morning about the 978 I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I was really pulling for Outlaw on this one. I was checking the Emotiva lounge and saw this post by an Emotiva higher up.

From Lonnie:

"I personally would just like to say that I am very sorry to hear this. I can honestly say I know exactly how he feels and it is not good. With anyone who ventures into a collaborative project with an outside company these things happen and have happened to us on many occasions. At this point I am sure he feels as though he has let his customers down in some way (I know I always did), anger towards the OEM, regret for his people who have labored long hours and invested much as well as disappointment in the substantial monetary investment that was made.

This is not an easy time for Peter and I encourage all here to extend to him all the good will and well wishes. Contrary to popular belief no one here is celebrating this. In fact it is quite the opposite. I actually enjoy the competition as it drives me to build better products. The demise of the 978 is actually not good for anyone, especially you, the consumer.

So to Peter and his team, I am truly sorry and wish you all the best. Hang in there; in the long run this will be nothing more than a bump in the road.

Lonnie"

Nice comment from Lonnie. As Lonnie points out, Emotiva and Outlaw share a similar place in the market (even though their product lines cover different ground), and that market's consumers lost one choice when this happened. What's bad for both companies' consumers can be seen as bad for the shared market as a whole. I think the celebrating is likely in whatever office generated the idea of triggering the death of the 978.

It is rather encouraging to see Emotiva take a high road on this. While I suppose the cynics might believe this is merely the politically expedient way to gain new customers I suspect that folks who toil against the onslaught of "me too" products share more common traits than differences.

Funny thing too is I have been involved in audio as a hobby and the broader field of electronics as a vocation long enough to know that those who dance on the grave of their compeititors very often seal their own fate. The wise learn from the misfortune of their peers and hopefully can alter their own trajectory to make a better end-point more likely...

Even for those who may been lining up to take their metaphorical swing at the "bully" who pulled the rug out from under the 978 might be wise to examine the hows and whys of what has really transpired -- in the increasingly TIGHT confines of higher performance audio components the steps that BOTH traditional nameplates and upstarts need to take to ensure their survival are becoming increasingly desperate. I would caution those that feel compelled boycot a firm or to "roll their own" understand that in doing so they may further hasten the demise of firms of making even the sub-components needed to keep the audio landscape viable.

For those who remember seminal moments in the history of other consumer electronics firms I hope this becomes a chapter more like Apple's cancelation of clones tthan like the debacles of other firms...

Really in the "big picture" of trying to get MORE people atuned to the worth of high quality home theatre / audio systems this is a dark day. To think that folks that are increasingly unable to justify ANY discretionary spending will be forced to probably double their outlay for products of similar features will do other that SHRINK the whole market is sad....