I had actually ordered the Onkyo PR-SC5508 from Crutchfield, when they came out with a special purchase of the Onkyo TX-NR5009. The 5009 has the upgraded preamp section of the 5509, which is not available in the U.S. It is available for $200 less than the 5508 and you get the amp section and preamp upgrades for free! I have just gotten it installed into my system and I am generally very pleased with it. There are a couple of items which would be a negative for some. 1. It does not have balance pre outs. This is not an issue for me because I am still using my old reliable Outlaw 770 power amp, which does not have balanced inputs. I have them stacked on top of each other, so it is a very short run anyway and balanced inputs should never be necessary. 2. It does not have a 12v trigger for zone 1. This is irritating, but can be worked around by using the trigger for zone 2 and just powering up zone 2 at the same time as you power up zone 1.

I am not a big fan of Audyssey. I had the PR-SC886, which had MultiEQ. I hoped that the XT32 would be much improved, but I still prefer the sound with it turned off. However, my room is treated and is a pretty good sounding room with few issues. Audyssey seems to roll off the highs and lows and to me makes the system sound like an inexpensive bookshelf system. However, I am a bit of a bass nut and like a little emphasis at the bottom end.

I was really dissappointed that the 978 got cancelled. I had an old 950 that from a sound quality point of view was probably the best sounding processor I ever had. It just became too outdated and could not handle the new formats. I had high hopes that the 978 would have the sound quality with updated features. Too bad.