I have had my 976 since Tuesday now and so far I am very impressed overall with the sound quality. I can't really comment on the video aspect yet because I have my sources connected directly to my LG Oled. I listen to a lot of MC music like sacds and dvd audio discs and the sound is excellent so far. I listen to all my music through the 7.1 analog inputs because I really like the dacs in my Oppo 205.

I read the manual before getting the 976 and setup did not take long at all. I tried going with the auto setup but it failed because I did not have 2 back surround speakers. I have a 6.1 setup and Outlaw Ben from tech support was good at explaining what happened. It was no big deal though because I really prefer to do a manual setup myself and that is what I did using the 976 test tones for balancing the speakers.

The sound stage is quite big and full sounding like Adrian L mentioned, and I am liking this more and more as I go through various sacds. The noise floor is incredibly low on the 976. This is one quiet prepro. Movies sound very good as well and dialogue is quite clear. I am hearing everything better now with good detail in the front stage.

I ran REW for all of my speakers and applied the EQ recommended filters to the PEQ of the 976. It was not hard after using the match response to target and then looking at the EQ adjustments it suggested. I tried using the EQ for all my speakers but decided to just use the subwoofer filters for now. The other speaker responses looked pretty good as they were. My graph on REW for the sub looks smoother now with EQ applied even though I do get an overall lower bass output. I have been watching movies with EQ on and off to compare the sound.

I have had to turn the gain on my sub up just a bit but that is ok and not unusual when you get a new prepro. I have been trying to decide on whether to keep the 976 or stick with my Marantz AVR but I am definitely leaning towards the 976 because the sound is so good and I have always wanted to go back to separates.

Outlaw has invested a lot of time into making the 976 a quality component and it is evident in the sound I am hearing. I wish I could accommodate Atmos but I just can't for now, so the 976 is a good match. For me it is all about the sound and the 976 delivers this well. Thanks for reading my review.