OK, time to get serious (relatively speaking).

Let's start with what I didn't like. It's a short list and there's nothing terribly earth shattering about it.

1. Didn't care for the FM antenna connection. The slip-on connect over the bulkhead pin seems kind weak to me. Granted, it's hidden in back an likely never to be bumped but overall I didn't care for it. I kept my 970 FM antenna and used the provided adapter.

2. It would have been nice to have the same power cord as the 970. The different form factor required me to pull out the old power cable and thread the new one behind the rack. Kinda nit-picky but there it is.

3. The tactile feedback on the volume knob is bad (IMO). The knob is pretty stiff to turn and the knob itself is very slippery. At times I was unsure if I was actually turning the knob or if my fingers were just slipping on the surface. Turned out to be both on different occassions.

4. It would have been nice to have a power port for the OAW3, or better yet a docking station for the OAW3. That's more an observation than a dislike. Just thought it would be cool.

Now for some of the rest:

1. The small size and back panel layout caused some concern about the ease of hooking up the ins and outs. Turned out to be a piece of cake. The 970 was jammed into the space I had and I actually had to use a mirror tocheck soem of the connects. The 975 was swimming in space and I had plenty of room to work.

2. My circa 1990 CD player only has analog outputs. I hooked it up and threw in a Beethoven piano concerto ("Hunt" on the Telarc disk). I then threw the same disk in my Panasonic Bluray play to see how it sounded completely digital. It actually came out about 6-10 dB lower in volume out of the Bluray. When corrected for volume I thought it sounded pretty much the same.

3. The boy wanted to play Xbox (of course). In fact he's playing now which is why I have time to type inmy thoughts. MW3 was a real treat with the bombers and fighters panning across various speakers depending on which direction the bomb run came from. The point being that the balance of the multi-channel info seems to blend more seemlessly than the 970. The sound stage also seems a bit wider than it was with the 970.

4. The video scaling is done really well. I used The Avengers to test out the system. Why? Because the movie came with both DVD and Bluray copies. This let me run DVD, upscaled DVD (by the Panasonic), Bluray and downsampled Bluray (again by the panasonic) and compare results. I was also able to compare the Panasonic direct to the TV with the 975 in between the two. To evaluate the performnace I didn;t even watch the movie. The entry screen has a line drawing of the SHIELD aircraft carrier. The diagonal lines clearly show sampling effect. Then after the comic screens flip by the MARVEL name appears and fades into the distance on a red background. Looking at the legs of the V you can clearly see the aliasing effect causing a ripple going down the edges of the left leg and then back up the edges of the right leg of the V. Obviously giving the 975 full res Bluray and letting it output it to the TV was best. However the native 480P out of the DVD upscaled by the 975 was pretty close picture-wise. However the sound quality of the DVD vs the Bluray was no contest.

5. I actually thought the the small controller is pretty cool. I didn't have a problem with the small size of the key, although I'm guessing it will find it's way into the couch pretty easily.

Enough for now. Time to kick the boy off the system. It's dad's turn.

EE, have you been able to get it to play DD true HD or DTS master?
If so what does the front panel say?

I haven't while using my PS3 but it could be that rather then the 975.

Yeah, I've seen it come up "DTS HD Master.." or something like that. I think it only scrolls across the screen once during start of the movie so you have to be looking when the movie starts.

Ok. Did some reading and apparently the old (fat)PS3 can only decode DD true and DTS master internally and send it out via LPCM. It can not send lossless over bitstream, too much bandwidth or something.

As for knowing what it's currently doing there is a "status" button on the remote that will tell you the current mode and surround format is.

I pretty much agree with all your points above other then the OAW3 since I don't have 1 and the remote to me seems to have a really weak signal. Have to be dead in front of the 975 and usually have to hit it 2-4 times to get a response. Possibly the batteries, don't have another set of AAA's atm.
I haven't had the chance to check out the video scaling against my DVDO edge yet.
Also agree with the sound stage being nice, much better then the 950 was

That's about it for now.

How is it with a DVR and FF or RR?
Or a STB and switching from DD 5.1 and 2.0?

Any dropouts?

A couple more observations:

1. It's amazing how quietly I can play the system and still understand the conversation. The 7.1 channel information stays extremely well balanced at whatever volume I play it. Definitely an inprovment over the 970.

2. I was playing with the SMS-1 to determine if anything changed at the lower frequencies (not that I detected anything wrong). The OSD did not show up for the SMS-1. All connects checked out. Finally found out the if you are using an analog input and the 975 is set to "Native" then nothing comes out the HDMI. Change it to "Autoscale" and it worked fine. If this is noted in the manual I missed it.

3. After playing with the SMS-1 I went back and played the test tone to re-cal all the speakers. The resulting blast of pink noise sent the dog running for cover and the wife inquiring if I was OK. It turns out the 975 plays the test tones at the last volume set point which in this case was pretty lound as I was listening to a quiet CD in stereo mode. I also noted that the volume knob on the 975 and the volume buttons on the remote do not change the test tone volume once they start playing. I got out of the menu, turned down the volume, got back in and turned on the test tones then they played at a more rasonable volumne. If I remember correctly the 970 let you control the test tone volume with the remote or volume knob. On the other hand, the volume of sound my system puts out really impressed me-I've never had it cranked up that loud before It is noted in the manual that you have to get out of the OSD to adjust the vlume, still it would be nice to control the volume while the tones are active.

4. The fast forward and reverse with the Bluray player is good. I'm guessing you loose about 1/4 - 1/2 second of audio when the video starts playing. I can't really say if this is because of the 975 or the bluray player though I'm guessing it's the decoding in the 975. Switching from two channel stereo to all channel stereo or PL-Music is noticably longer, maybe about a second: below my threshold for annoyance considering it's not a normal operation. No dropouts of video to report. The unit has been operating for 3-4 hours a day, more on the weekends, without a hiccup.

I picked mine up at FedEx at noon and it's been sitting on a kitchen counter "on" since. I think I remember concerns about heat. I just got out my meter that has a thermocouple probe for temp measurement and checked all over the top cover. The warmest area was 4" to 6" in from the back on the right side of the unit and about the same 4" to 6" in from the right. Max reading was 39 degrees C = 102.2 degrees F. No problem - just give an inch or so clearance above the top, and with open back and front, it should be good to go.
Tomorrow I'll remove my old 950 from my equipment rack and replace it with this 975.

What concern do you remember about heat issues with the 975?

Any other user experiences to report out there?? By my count there are at least 7 posters that have received their units one or more days ago...don't you realize you have a debt to society as an early receiver to report to the community?!?!?! Just kidding of course but anxious to hear others' stories of setup and usage. I ordered on 11/30 so expect I may have a ways to go before receiving mine. I will be doing a entire reorganization of my family room system and have cabling and accesories ready and waiting...

There is no heat issue with the 975 whatsoever. Hank's measurements are consistent with ours. As he suggests: "Just give an inch or so clearance above the top, and with open back and front, it should be good to go."

This advice should be followed for any powered A/V component, be it satellite box, cable box, game, or Blu-Ray player.

Of course, in the case of any multi-channel power amplifier, we would recommend placing it on it's own dedicated shelf with no components stacked on it.

Peter