As noted in another thread in this forum, I placed an order today for a 970, but me being me, I am second guessing myself. I figure I can easily switch to the 990 if I change my mind soon enough.

I don't need the zone 2, or the balanced outputs, and I have a 2 channel Pre with HT bypass, so I won't be listening to 2 channel with the 970/990. Also, I believe the 970 will have all of the AV connections that I will ever need. Thus, the 970 fits the functional requirements, which is why I chose it over the 990. However, what keeps me coming back to the 990 is that I never skimped on the rest of the system, so why start now. Is there any reason to beleive that there will be a noticable difference between the 2 for movie soundtracks? Also, any other features that may be important (I am not fully up to speed on many of the advance features of HT gear these days, so please excuse my ignorance).

I got 2 words for you: Come on! Everbody's doing it. I got a 990 the other day and it is a very impressive unit. I will not get the 970 until Saturday so I can't comment on how it compares to the 990 yet.

I think they have a different DAC, and if they do you can bet the 990s is better.

An extra $300 is a very small price to pay for added confidence in this hobby. Go for it!!! Several of us including myself took the plunge and ordered 990s this week.

Come on, everybody is doing it!!! :-)

FWIW: When the 990 was released and the waiting list was started, I immediately Ebay'd my 950 (and made a killin no less). I ordered up the 990 and haven't second guessed it once. This thing is really a great pre/pro. When the news of the 970 came out, I must admit that I began to wonder if it might be the perfect fit for me, but after thinking about it, reading the manual, specs, and feature list, I am still very confident that the 990 is the greatest bang for the buck out there. Not to take anything away from the 970. I just think that the added features of the 990 are worth the few extra bones... Just one man's opinion.

later,
simp

I would say try out the 970 since you have it on order. It may totally fullfill your needs. Once you have it working in your system then you can make a determination as to whether or not you need "more" or "better".

You say yourself that you are not going to use the 990 for 2 channel. I would bet that in HT use only there is very little difference.

Regards,

Charlie

(A fellow obscessive)

I, like you, have a separate 2 channel preamp with HT bypass for those duties. I, however, did need XLR outputs (as my whole system is balanced), so the 990 was it. That said, it sounds like your needs would justify the 970 - try it - I'd be willing to bet it will work out just fine. Do report back your findings.

I am still on the fence, but since the 970 is already ordered, and I just don't feel like hastling to get the order changed, I will go with the 970 initially. It is smaller, which is nice because I am running out of space for equipment.

Thanks for all of your inputs, and I will post back with my impressions.