I will weigh in on this topic, but gently. I can't speak to the issues folks had with the 970 as I never owned one. I do have the 990 and have been very pleased. Outlaw provided terrific customer service when it developed some kind of fault and needed repair. They did it quickly and I've not had any issues since. I did order 5 monoblocks from them some time ago and after running them in my system I just didn't like their performance. They took them back as advertised. Outlaw has provided me very good customer service and I have recommended them to coworkers and friends.

I originally looked at Outlaw because they offered feature-rich products that seemed to have just what was needed at excellent prices. I think they offer that now but I also think some of their luster has come off recently. Those original products were unique but is seems now a lot of their products are rebadged from other manufacturers. In some cases that is a good thing; their multi channel amps are from ATI. ATI has an excellent reputation and are used by several other companies plus Outlaw's prices on those amps are very competitive. They have also worked good combo deals such as including the OPPO BDP-83 in one of their packages that have benefited customers.

I hope Outlaw can get back to offering those unique products that find footholds like the 950 and 990 did. Products that offer just the right features at an excellent price. I often thought the 990 was the reasonable man's Anthem AVM-30. I hope the 997 hits a sweet spot and is favorably compared to Anthem's AVM-50v. And the price comparison between the two: $1,400 for the 997 and list price of $5,500 for the AVM-50v. That alone is worth the wait.