Few firms in the A/V business have been able to raise prices. Inflation may be happening in commodities markets, but depressed demand and intense competition are putting downward pressure on all manufacturers.

Even the biggest companies no longer publish MSRPs that are some ridiculous multiple of "street price" -- on many of the higher quality processor / pre-amps / tuners a "sale price" even 5% below list is a pretty good deal. Anybody that shops the used audio offerings knows that non-HDMI units (or even those with sketchy HDMI support...) are selling for a fraction of their original prices...

Folks that will be buying 978s want some REAL power to drive their speakers and the value that any of the traditional "Outlaw Combos" deliver will be the real deal closer -- a total package that enable 5 or 7 channels of high quality sound at a price point that blows away the competition along with unparalleled tech support will almost certainly pay off the sunk costs of development a heckuva lot more reliability than some sky high made up list price with continuous discounts...