Welcome to the forum, munster. I hate to disagree with someone I've just met, but I believe you are being unfair. Yes, they began investigating a pre/pro in 1999, and they made what may be considered a mistake in telling us about it when they were still so early in the design phase that the specs changed almost daily. According to the April 20, 2000 newsletter, though, the technology available at that time wasn't capable of providing everything that they felt belonged in an Outlaw pre/pro, so they scrapped the plans for a unit that would have appeared in Spring 2000. They had two pre/pros then in development, but they had just started design of them -- I've looked at schematic designs for something as "simple" as a building's air-conditioning system and then looked at the final product and laughed myself silly at how different the two were, because design (especially good, conscientious design) is a flexible process. Their initial goal of a pre/pro based on the 1050 in Spring 2000 evolved into something a lot larger (the 950 shares pretty much nothing but the heavy faceplate and green button of the 1050), and they chose later that year to suspend the hi-end pre/pro until the industry settled on some developing standards (digital connection of DVD-Audio and SACD, for example). In fact, if you look at the description of the "high-end" pre/pro in the April 2000 newsletter, you'll find yourself looking at specs that are essentially the Model 950. They could have spit out some re-hash of the 1050 and sold it 18 months ago, but they didn't want to. Instead they have worked very hard to develop the best product possible. And I would suspect that they told us those projected availability dates honestly believing that they would get there; manufacturing problems, software incompabilities, and development of new technologies can really screw with completing the design of something like this. I'm afraid the Outlaws have learned something from the Model 950 -- that mentioning products that haven't reached beta testing yet is an invitation for a lot of static from online forums. I have seen some forums where small groups or even individuals spent a great deal of time and energy trying to vilify Outlaw because the 950 is late -- the same people who would likely have complained about a quick re-hash of the 1050 as a pre/pro in 2000 and the Model 950 as a $1500 "high-end" pre/pro today. Rock, meet hard place.

I apologize if this lengthy reply appears hostile, as it is meant only to point out why frustrated posters may not always find much understanding. Do I understand the frustration of someone eagerly awaiting the arrival of a Model 950? Yep, I'm on the reservation list myself. Do I think that frustration is reason to condemn the Outlaws for trying to be totally open with consumers? No, I believe that to be counter-productive and unfair to the people trying as hard as they can to get innovative and affordable products to market as fast as they can.

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Gonk