Great review Palmer !
You are so right about dialog being intelligble. It is something i struggle with, watching any other system in my house, but even low volume listening with the 976 is easy to hear.
Isnt the Harmony Elite an RF remote? Im tossing up between that and the Harmony 950, which is IR.
I am leaning toward the 950 because i am already set up with an IR repeater system. Love to hear your opinion on the Elite.

I have not yet connected my turntable to the 976, now you've got me itching to do so !!
I also have several DVD Audio discs that i have yet to play.

This 976 has got me exited about my theater room again !!
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Double drywalled, "Green Glue" treated Theater
GIK acoustic treatment
Epson 8700UB Projecting on a 135" Seymour XD Audio transparent screen
Outlaw 976 Processor
Outlaw 755 amp for Center and all four surrounds
Adcom GFA 555II for Main L & R channels
Behringer EP4000 for two homemade subs
Outlaw Ultra X13 for REAL Sub Bass !
OPPO BDP103, Marantz CD63SE, Denon DP300F
2 Adcom ACE515s for AC current treatment
Newport Theater Director for AC distribution.
Speakers are all built by myself utilizing Dynaudio Drivers
Second room: Yamaha receiver, Musical fidelity X10D tubes, Carver C9 holographic pro.