My guess was holiday availability. Hope for no production snafu's.

Fingers crossed......

Well, well, well. I have been skeptical to cautiously optimistic regarding the 976 and this is very exciting news. I've got a green light to spend a bunch of money from the household budget to upgrade the family HT. That includes a new TV/monitor (55" or maybe a 65" LG OLED), new BluRay player (OPPO UDP-203), new Apple TV, a new Harmony remote, ISF calibration of the new TV and lastly the 976. All this hinges on the availability of the 976. I think I am going to begin studying the REW guide with the hope the 976 manual thoroughly describes how to use REW to optimize the 976.

BTW, I read on DIYAUDIO that there's a new REW version and supposedly much improved.

I can't wait for the pre-order link to show up!

Wow getting close. I was dead set on getting one, but I'm kinda thinking of starting to upgrade my speakers from Def Tech to Ascend Acoustics. That has NOTHING to do with the delay. I wasn't buying till December anyway. Just something I got in my head to upgrade speakers to much more high end. What to do?

Always hard to assess what expenditure is the “next logical step” for an AV system...
Definitive Technology has several tiers of speakers at different price points, several of which would be extremely hard to say are “inferior” to similarly priced options from companies like Ascend Acoustics...

Depending upon current rcvr or prepro & amp the 976 and appropriate Outlaw amp might be more of a “step-up”...

I would be sure to audition any new speakers against the old reliables unless there is something mechanically wrong with the current setup. While many AV fans are convinced that a new amp or pre-pro will improve the sound it is much more likely that speakers will change the way your system sounds to a much larger degree. As long as the amp has enough oomph to get the speakers to nirvana levels all else being equal the rest is ones and zeros. The source material also has some effects especially in the analog domain. I have always considered that new processors are only needed if some functionality is gained that cannot be ignored and is must have. All things considered, spend the most money getting the best speakers you can afford and an amp which can drive them.

I agree somewhat with your comment. However,it has been my experience with a multitude of pre/pros that they have their own sonic signatures. If you compare them with the same amp and speakers,there are differences to be heard.

I have always advised folks to buy the best speakers they can possibly afford, then upgrade other system components as time and budget allow. With OUTLAW, we have a top-line pre/pro for a low price - a very good thing indeed.