Well, I have had the 886 for 2 months and it finally got quiet enough in my house to set up the 886 Audyssey. I used it straight out of the box with a few manual tweaks since November. After some intial missteps on my part, the dang thing sounds fabulous. Listened to Saving Private Ryan and the beach and the bridge scenes were out of this world for staging and sonic motion. My 990 sounded as good but it was alot harder to get right. I am just starting to get into the features of the 886 because they are so extensive.

I was thinking about getting one, but I kind of figured it would be overkill for me as I know I wouldn't use all the bells and whistles on it, but having Audyssey would be nice. When I did have a receiver (a lower end Onkyo btw) that offered it, I think it did make a difference for movies, but unfortunately the receiver wasn't so great for audio use, which is why I went back to a 970. Glad to hear it's working well for you. How do you like audio only through it though?

I like the two channel mode. I still am trying to figure out how to get it into 2.1 mode. It is great on Direct analog from the OPPO but I still prefer 2.1 channel sound.

That's good to hear. I'm just kind of waffling on upgrading from the 970 though, but with the hiss issue from my speakers, I'm leaning toward doing something. I guess after I talk to Scott next week I'll make a decision. It's really kind of overkill for me to go with either an 886 or possibly the 997 as I'd probably only use the HDMI input on either for my HD-DVD player, and I don't use that much anymore anyway.

Since your 970 is still under warranty you don't really need to jump platforms. The Outlaws will get it back to its old self and then you're set.