My money I've been saving pennies for upgrading my venerable 990 is here. I'm so sick of grabbing remotes to flip my HDMI around every time I change sources and my kids losing remotes/putting them in other rooms on accident making it annoying.

I love my 990, and I want to upgrade and give my business to the folks that made it. However, the follow on to the 990 has been 'coming soon' since 2010 and is almost going on two years since first mentioned. I'm about to remodel the room it's in and want to run wires and build cabinet to hide things in again, etc.

However, I want to buy a new pre-amp.

Should I give up and go with the Marantz AV7005?

Actually, going with the AV7005 doesn't preclude still waiting for the 978.

I have an AV7005 I got last fall, and it has Audyssey XT. But the Outlaw will have XT32, which should be an important upgrade. And I'm hoping that the Outlaw'a analog output stage will also be an upgrade over the Marantz, with its Sabre ESS DACs. Time will tell.

Given the lack of concrete information thus far, you might want to look elsewhere if you're that geared up to make a change. In my case I spent enough on a used replacement for the 990 to make a jump back to Outlaw feasible if and when the time comes. Brand loyalty is something every enterprise looks for, in this case Outlaw is blessed; they've made some great products and enjoyed the resultant goodwill. Unfortunately for the company and fortunately for the consumer, this loyalty must continue to be earned. Whether through its own doing or through no fault of its own, this loyalty has been stretched to the point where many have made other choices. Whether or not we've moved on to other gear, I think we are all rooting for the Outlaws to come back with a kick-ass product whenever it happens - life, however, goes on...

Why punt? I, personally, am not having trouble finding things other than pre-pros to spend my money on. The only real question is will I have any money left when Outlaw releases?

The AV7005 is a nice unit and may still be made in Japan (I'd seen some chatter about production being moved to China where Marantz produces a lot of their lower end models). There's also the Onkyo TX-NR1009 that's a wee bit cheaper, feature rich, and made in Malaysia. It's also THX certified if that sort of thing matters to you (it doesn't for me).

If you're remodeling anyway, you might as well get something that fits the bill when you need it. Perpetually waiting might be frustrating since there's always something better/faster/cheaper just over the horizon if you keep waiting.

Best,

Given the lack of positive news on the 978, I would jump on the 7005. The price is similar as is the feature set. If the 978 comes out perfect with no bugs great. I wouldn't buy one for a year or so after release just to make sure. There have been too many delays associated with the 997/998/978 for me to keep hoping for a perfect release. I am sure Outlaw will fix any issues that come up but I would rather be using the machine instead of tuning it.

Entrirely fair to be cautious, however I suspect that at least part of the delay / lack of communication has to do with tweaks that have come from suggestions of the beta testers. In my experience with other Outlaw products the tweaks have been more validations of preferred operating styles than major overhauls of some improperly implemented feature. Of course the nature of OSD driven menus is often that what seems like a minor tweak to a selection hierarchy requires a complete re-think of a whole lot of dynamic data, which might mean nothing in terms of sonic performance / reliability, and in that sense no real "tuning"...

Once the product is released to the public the postings ought to give a pretty clear indication as what makes sense to jump on or hold off.

And all this waiting has given me the chance to re-evaluate my needs. Since the only source I'll be using is an OPPO BDP-95 and maybe a turntable, I think an analog surround preamp is all I need. I only use analog outs on the OPPO and don't really care for digital sound/video processing, room correction, and the (nice to have) extras that the 978 will offer. Something like the Parasound P7 sounds perfect for me other than its pricetag and I understand that the balanced in/outs on this unit are not true balanced connections.

Which processor, 978 or Parasound, has the not true balanced conns?

The 978 will have fully balanced XLR connections. It's the Parasound that is reported to have balanced which are just single ended internally.
I may just try the OPPO directly to the amp. If volume control works then that might be all I need.