renov8r, your assumption may or may not be correct about the failure of B&K. They released the Ref 70 a while back. You guys may very well be right that the Ref 70 was the last nail in the coffin. The advent and implementation of HDMI has cost many electronic integrators big, big problems.

I am banking on the ATI folks to come up with a US made processor. With Theta and B&K in the stable, they may have the talent to pull it off. Not sure if the Outlaws will be involved, but they are my best hope of being my next processor purchase.

I think a lot of folks are really interested in sound quality over bells and whistles. I followed the release of the Ref 70, and the street price was less that the $3,800 gonk reported. The comments on AVS on the limits of the unit made me wait. But I believe they had a quality sounding product. My situation is that I have a system that has a mixture of HDMI for video and digital for audio. When I buy another processor, I want something with superior audio quality over HDMI.