What if the 978 had been made in the US. It certainly would have cost more. For lack of a better rule of thumb, lets say it cost $2499. Would there be any takers.

My rational is that it is not quite double the price.

I would be on a pre-order list. Just curious if the cost is the major driver for Outlaw products?

Only if the US made unit had Trinnov. Couldn't justify paying that much for what the 978 offered on paper.

Cost is definately a factor for me, at $2.5k, the Marantz would be an easy decision for me as an alternative.

The $1,500 price point was already getting to be a stretch for many people. Jumping to $2,500 would further narrow the field. I know that I'd have a real hard time making that price point work within my home theater budget.

Sounds like I am in the minority.

Just curious as to the value proposition of made in the USA.

Made is the USA certainly has value to me. I do not belong the the "more features is better" camp but the build and SQ would have to be top shelf for me to consider anything over 2K.

I suspect that among the VAST majority of consumers the "value" of "Made in the USA" is almost nil , at least in terms of what they will actually open their wallets to support.

The other side of the coin is that going back to the first Outlaw products made overseas there were real differences in the ability to find firms in the US with the willingness to participate in the design and construction of the kinds of products that Outlaw wanted to offer. The lead Outlaw, Peter T, has been quoted as saying so much and other CE firms have expressed a similar set of frustrations when they wanted to scale up US based production too...

Personally I believe that some things may have changed with regard to utilizing US based design team(s) and then getting final assembly done in the US. Perhaps more thought should be given to breaking down the various analogue output stages / phono inputs from the more "specification oriented" DACs, DSP/room correction, format decoding, digital video features. I might be way off base but my gut tells me that some of those things could be done by "board level" build contracts which ought to isolate Outlaw from any one firm killing the project. Of course the downside is that a mindset of such a de-integrated manufacturing process is that some kind of "assembly line test / validation" process (including perhaps specialized test equipment...) would have be developed and each subcontractor would have to adhere to high standards to ensure all the boards can be successfully assembled into working units at the final production step. That likely will add cost / complexity. The upside is that construction of each sub-assembly can happen more quickly and the odds of the entire project seeing the light of day would increase. It is even conceivable that some US based firms might be interested in the board level work, in contrast to being uninterested in "the whole enchilada". The fact is the changing landscape of DOD contracts has created a fairly decent boom in firms that have designed and built a wide range of drones / remote sensing equipment to give the US a technological edge in Iraq and Afghanistan, The wind-down of those efforts may be causing the smarter firms to look for other avenues to keep their workforce productive. There very well may be an opportunity to find firms that can do better / higher level work on a time table that is not possible with SE Asian manufacturers. (of course if the guys at the top of those firms have no desire to go from DOD level markup sin the 5 figures per board to the CE world were board level margins typically are measured in cents then the blame for more folks ending up on unemployment rolls falls to the their bosses not any overseas competition...)

Finally I think that too many folks forget that not too long ago Japan was a major hub of actual CE manufacturing. The long downturn in the Japanese economy almost certainly has created opportunities to revive some of the once mighty productivity of Japan. The culture of Japan's business has been shaped by being a very long term ally of the US; its workforce is generally regarded as not just technically proficient but also motivated to bring democratic participation to the factory floor in positive ways. Japanese workers as well Japanese business leaders and political / thought leaders have been known to all behave in much more collaborative manner than those in countries were human rights abuses were central to the rise of political leaders. In short I would value a "Made in Japan" designation nearly as highly as something made domestically -- in fine optics Japan's precision is largely seen as unrivaled, so to are the CE offerings from the past...

Being made in the USA would add close to zero value for me. It's all about the finished product, and if it had come to fruition, I don't think building it in the US would have increased the quality.

The issue with USA production is that a lot of people in the US are lazy. There are too many firms who are simply not interested in making money unless it's a bucketload of money and comes nearly for free, without any effort expended. As soon as it comes time to actually put in work, all bets are off. Don't get me wrong, it's almost the same situation in Canada and even many parts of Europe. The fact is that many overseas companies are much hungrier for income and it shows in their willingness to work and develop.
Willingness to sweat.

You'll see a lot of talk about the depressed economy in the media and the lack of work, etc... And it's a shame that a lot of the folks affected don't have opportunities while may of their compatriots regularly refuse potential work.

I tend to agree that countries with a nice cushy set of "support mechanisms" do foster a degree of laziness BUT I honestly believe that more than the laziness there is factor that comes from higher levels of leadership -- the folks that assume if you can't make "internet billionaire" type money from a project it ain't worth trying are a big part of the reason that start-up activity has been depressed. Even more of a factor are the policies of too many level of government that bend over backwards to accommodate the lobbying of bigger activists while ignoring the "little guy". Some of the screwy results of this sort of thinking can be seen in the ever escalating costs that all levels of government seem willing to accept while regular working stiffs are forced to pick up the tab.

In the context of my comments about defense electronics firms and the contrast to consumer electronics the history of so many things shows how wrong the "lobbyists" have been. Whether one looks from the perspective of what drove the FCC to move toward HD TV and subsequently delay the sunsetting of SD broadcasts from the perspective of either consumers or the heritage US electronics manufacturers it is pretty clear that there was no real benefit to either side -- regulatory interference was unable to "save" US based TV makers NOR give consumers access to a broader range of OTA options... In the world of huge defense electronics firms the lessons of the recent need for drones and other advanced technological systems has shown that tiny start-ups can deliver better products more quickly and with far more competitive pricing, yet the lobbyists for the traditional firms continue to manage to DOD officials to grossly overpay for the largely non-productive R&D of the giants...

The drive of innovators in the US and the dedication of small teams of dedicated folks that really want to do things a better way needs to be fostered and encouraged. IF there was some way to "vote with your dollars" for not just "Made in the USA" but "Innovated and Dedicated to building the USA" maybe folks would see more value.

I guess I am in the minority as well then. I wouldn't have batted an eye at paying $2500 for the 978 if it had been made here. Where a product is made, does matter to me. I work in the semiconductor industry, and way too many jobs have been moved offshore due to cost reasons. I for one do put my money where my mouth is.