In my opinion, the 970 replacement should be the 997. In other words, retire the 970.

One alternative to reach those "entry-level" customers who don't want all the bells and whistles (and cost) of the 997 would be to release a model based on the 997 platform minus the balanced outputs and the Trinnov package. It is possible that all that may fit in the same size chassis as the 970. This should also be good for Outlaw Audio since the two models would essentially be the same and can be supported by the same service infrastructure.

Let me be the first to suggest calling it the 9970 (pretty clever, eh?).