Ok my 950 of 8 years now just died. It sounds alot like the other deaths I have read about on other posts. Can anyone please tell me when the 997 is to be released????? I am very desperate...don't really want to go with the 990, but I guess I'll have to.

No schedule for the Model 997. I haven't been following the R-972 thread at AVS very closely, but I don't think it's been particularly active lately. That suggests to me that the Model 997 is still hung up in line behind the 972.

Outlaw has said that it will be a minimum of 60 days following the release of the Sherwood 972 before they release the 997. While a handful of 972s have been sold, there are still bugs in it, mostly with the Trinnov set up, and Sherwood is still working on the fix. So it would appear that the most optimistic release date of the 997 would be February 2010, and more realisticaly later.
Sorry about your 950, I still have mine, and am crossing my fingers that it stays alive 'til the 997 is out.

Need to do some trouble shooting on my 950 myself, hoping it's just a fuse; it not it's dead too. I'll be looking at the Onkyo/Integra offerings, possibly the DHC-40.1.

It's official, my 950 had given up the ghost too. Don't have the scratch to pick up a new anything at the moment and my wife wants me to get the 950 fixed. I told her it'll cost more to fix than it's worth and would rather save the repair money for a new unit. Given all the difficulties with the SN 972 I'm pretty sure my next unit will not be the 997 whenever...or if...it ever comes out. I'll definitely be looking at the Onkyo/Integra offerings and possibly a Denon receiver to use as a preamp.

Gonig with the 990 is a pretty good way to go. What are the symptoms of 950 death. Could it be a losse wire or a bad power supply? May be easy to fix. Call the Outlaws for help yet?

It won't power on, I've unplugged for awhile and tried power it back on, tried resetting the button beneath the volume control, and checked the fuse which was still good. I did see in another thread that there are actually four fuses inside the 950 and I only looked for one so I'm going to open it back up and check for those too. I have contacted Outlaw, they said to get back with them after I've checked for the other fuses.

Something made the fuses blow if that is the case. Sometimes they go due to age but more likely there is a bad contact somewhere letting too much juice flow to somewhere it shouldn't. Is it still under warranty

Sadly it is no longer under warranty. I'll give a whack at the other fuses before I try anything else, we did recently have a big power outage that could possibly have triggered something and one of the kids may have had it on at the time.

I'd considered the 990 but that still doesn't get the the HDMI switching I need and doesn't get around the PS3 (my trusty BR source) not being able to transmit lossless audio except by HDMI.

Will Outlaw release schematics and/or a tech manual for out of production products like the 950? That definitely makes it easier for the do-it-yourselfer trying to debug old equipment.

What ever you do, you should definitely invest in some sort of surge protection. I live in south Florida and we have lots of lightning storms and my stuff has weathered them so far.

I completely agree. We don't have the storms that South Florida has, but we get power surges and outages frequently where I live because we are surrounded by trees. Surge suppression is an easy one.

[[WARNING: Blathering, pointless post alert]]

Aaaaah, the glory of Florida power. When I lived there (just east of Disneyworld on the inland waterway), one afternoon during a lightning storm, a strike near my condo actually lit up the lamp on my bedside table!!! Lost a computer modem but, fortunately, that was all.

We don't have lightning strikes like that in Los Angeles, but the power brown- and black-outs occur more frequently here than anywhere I've ever lived. I also swear by a little power protection (better than swearing at the lack of it.)

My sympathies on the death of your 950. A WONDERFUL preamp. The Outlaws are getting jerked around IMO on the development of the 997, which leaves us Outlaw Loyalists in a tough spot. I'm currently eyeing the Onkyo Pro 5507 (even though I have a prejudice against the company because of their notoriously poor customer service) and the Denon 4810 (a receiver, which would slightly take me out of SeperatesLand, even though I'd still use my Aragon amp to power the front channels.)

It's a tough situation.

Good point on the surge protector, it is on one so it wouldn't have been the power outage that did it. Now that I think about it, it hadn't been working pre power outage. I'll try to find some time this evening to open it up and check the other fuses.

I really wish SN wasn't taking Outlaw for a ride at this point, I'd like to stay an Outlaw Loyalist but I just don't see it happening. Sorry guys.

I opened up the 950 today to find the remaining fuses (there's five of the buggers in there) and found that what is marked as fuse 5 had blown. Haven't had a chance to find a new fuse yet but at least there's some promise that all isn't lost until I can get a replacement.

That's VERY encouraging Alex. I bet the fuse will resolve the problem. A few years ago my beloved Aragon amp failed to come on and, after several minutes of heartbroken agony, I contacted Aragon and they pointed me toward the internal fuse. That's all it was.

bobliind,
I to have thought about jumping ship for another prepro...Anthem...used but in excellent condition and with a full warranty.

However I gained some self control to hold out for the 997 since owning the 990/7700 combo works well for me and in my system.
I always thought about the issue of customer service and I have never been let down by Outlaw.

For what it's worth my good friend purchased an Onkyo some time ago and without going into specifics was disappointed in the way Onkyo handled the problem.

rubbersoul wrote:
AMEN BROTHER to both

(1) My 990/7700 combo is superb
(2) Fabulous customer service

So....yes to the 997 when it comes out, but not because the 990 is deficient. Rather, because of HDMI and codecs. Other than that I'm happy. OK so if Trinnov really works that well that's a plus.

Love Kef....and the 107's

Went by one of the local B&M's last night to check out the Integra DHC-40.1 and they didn't have any in stock; said they won't until they clear out their remaining 9.9's but I could special order. They also had a Denon 3808 on sale to clear them out of inventory. As there really aren't too many differences between the two in terms of the feature set I ended up getting a 3808 to replace my 950. One nice bonus about this route [aside from saving money versus the 40.1] is that I can use the amp and additional zones in the Denon to power some outdoor speakers by the hot tub at some point in the future.

Got everything connected last night but didn't have time to set everything up yet. Pretty psyched to get a chance to do that and finally watch some movies in Dolby True HD and DTS HD. This should hopefully have me set for the next 5+ years.

So the fuse did not fix the issue with the 950?

Haven't replaced the fuse yet, just really wanted to upgrade on features I'd been lacking. I'll see how the fuse replacement fixes things over the weekend and if it works maybe put the 950 on craigslist though I can't imagine there'd be too much demand for it.

IIRC, the warranty on the 950 is five years, no? Check the perks on your credit card. Mine doubles the warranty period for purchases I made using that card. I often forget this.

I got my iPod Touch replaced after the Apple warranty ran out. I had to deal with the 3rd party warranty company and submit all kids of paperwork, but it saved me from buying a new Touch!