Bar's open, John. Grab yourself a drink. Heck, grab yourself a Model 1070 if you want - I suspect you'd like it.

The Arcam and the Outlaw do look to have been developed with a similar goal in mind. Both use the same remote (the Catalyst48 from UEI), both have three component inputs and transcoding from composite or s-video to component, and both have similar amp ratings (although the Arcam rating may not hold up as well when all seven channels are driven, if the Ultimate AV review's comments about amp rating are correct). The Arcam's bi-amping option is nice, but if you actually have a 7.1 speaker setup (as more and more of us do these days) you can't use it. That leads directly into my biggest concern about the Arcam: no pre-amp outputs. The 1070 will let you get a well-equipped surround receiver now and add separate amps later (and amps can last a long time, meaning when you decide to upgrade to Blu-ray in a few years you can pick up a processor and already have the amp(s) in the rack - my multichannel amp was paired up with a receiver originally and has since seen two different processors). Plus, if you switch to really inefficient speakers or move the system into a really large space and find that you suddenly need 125W+ to drive your speakers properly (even just your mains), pre-amp outputs can keep you from having to scrap your receiver. No pre-amp outputs in a receiver costing over $1000 seems to be a strange and significant oversight (at least in my opinion). By the way, what speakers would you be driving with your new receiver?