I broke down purchased the 950 b-stock/new 770 combo. This will probably mean that the 970 will soon be released, as it usually turns out that when I finally get around to purchasing something, the one that I really want comes out shortly afterwards. I've been into computers for about 20 years, so I'm sorta used to this.

I will tell you guys that I'm very impressed with the sound that comes from the 950. While its feature list is not much different from my Yamaha RX-V2200, the clarity and imaging that it produces is in another league. I'm very pleased with this combo, but I have a bunch more listening to do. If you are interested I've started a thread on my thoughts/experience with this combo in the 950 Forum. Here is the link: http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/001384.html

Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts with me. Bobm, I used some of your reasoning to help justify to myself purchasing the 950, thank you very much.

Jeff