I've gone through stages 1-4 and am close to becoming a 5. I started building my system a little over 2 years ago but was in no rush. I actually started with the intentions on buying a 990 but when the whole HDMI thing took off, I figured I'd wait until Outlaw's next processor. I started getting all the other components and as you can see from my signature there's one thing missing. I've thought about buying a $300.00 receiver to use in the meantime but then I'd have to pursuade to the wife why it wasn't good enough come upgrade time. I'm cautiously on edge waiting for Peter T's news at weeks end, but also close to pulling the trigger on an Integra DHC 80.1. I've considered ADCOM GTP-870HD (not HDMI 1.3), NAD and Rotel comparable products but they don't have balanced outs. I've also wanted to give Outlaw every chance possible for my business. So here I am. Now a 4.