Simply put, based on what we know now there is simply no way to know when the 978 will be released. My guess-and that's all it is-would be Q4 of this year. Further, I wouldn't be surprised if the release was very late in Q4.

As for the pending 978 vs. the AV7005; that will have to be an individual decision based on myriad factors, many of which will be speculative and subjective. Examples include, but are not limited to-patience, sound quality differences (I predict a slight-but not Earth shaking advantage for the 978), and the value of XT32. For me, I have dual subs so XT32 is worth waiting for but if I only had one, my gut tells me that the higher EQ resolution of XT32 versus XT will not offer a significant difference in sound quality so I would lean toward the AV7005.

What I will do at this point is wait until CEDIA in September because prepros from the usual AV manufacturer suspects tend to be introduced then. If nothing new or interesting is shown, and there is no clear date for the 978's release, I'll probably go for a AV7005 at that point. Hopefully, either the 978 will be out by then or we'll at least have a fairly firm release date.