I wish it didn't have to be this way. I agree SN really fell down and the 997 suffered for it. I hope the 997 is all it is supposed to be and that we all get to hear first hand accounts soon. When I saw the news of the price drop I grabbed my card and ordered it, then told the wife. I had been cosidering getting it at the 1449 price so this worked out fabulously.

I have a second home in NC that needs its own HT system. The Onkyo and the 7125 will stay in FL and the 990 and the 7500 will go north. I bought the 7500 so I could use it with some Magnepan speakers I haven't got yet, but it will work with my Advents in NC just great until I do.

The features of the Onkyo were just too much to resist. Every review I have read just raved about its performance and it has everything anyone was wishing for in the 997. Of all the techno features the ones that really put me over the top were the Burr-Brown DACs, the second HDMI output and the Phono input. Couple that with the ISF calibration and Audysseys great reputation it jus outweighed the service and support I know I would get with Outlaw. Hopefully since Outlaw rewrote the manual for the Onkyo, the tech support will be there.