I've never owned a receiver from either of these companies, but I'm most interested in either Denon's AVR-3808CI or Sherwood Newcastle's R-972. I know that the final spec sheets for these two are just showing up now and that it'll be a few months before they're reviewed, but on a general performance level, how does Sherwood Newcastle stack up against Denon in the $1500.00 - $2000.00 range?

The only receiver I've ever owned is an old Yamaha RX-V595a which is in dire need of an upgrade.

Bayne(aka SirJohn), of course the 3808 isn't due out for a few more weeks, but if by "general performance" you mean clean power of a similar output level, there shouldn't be any reason to choose between the two on that basis. The relative desirability of the features that each has would be the deciding factors. You may have noticed that on AVS there's considerable discussion of the Onkyo 875 which is just about due out now, and features the Reon video processor which the 3808 won't have. You might also add that to your list for consideration.

After having 2 different Denons I felt I was missing something in terms of sound. I felt the quality, although good was somewhat "flat" and dull. I eventually did a bit of testing and found Yamaha much better in delivering a better tone and more defined soundstage (especially with movies). At the time I have to admit I was testing the higher end models of each. I also had so many problems with Denon DVD players, in terms of compatibility I eventually dropped them completely as a advertiser from my site and stopped using the player all together. There were too many compatibility issues with too many discs. I admit I do go though a larger amount of discs than most but I could review not knowing if it was the disc that had issues or the player. Having a deadline I got a SONY for just under $100 and found to better than the $1200 Denon in every way. Even better I have found OPPO to out do the SONY for a player. Even the DENON DVD player had that same "dull" sound as the receiver.
Having to choose between the two I would not go back to Denon. Eventually I went with the Sherbourn - but that's a completly different monster. In terms of the Yamaha, they will have a 1.3 HDMI model out by Oct/Nov, so my friend says.

It's interesting you should bring up Denon DVD players. I recently had to replace my Panasonic DVD-S97 and I chose a Denon DVD-557. The Denon seems to have better sound and a better picture on my Panasonic AE-900 LCD projector. I've never owned any Denon products, but based on the performance of the DVD player, I've started considering the 3808CI as a possible future receiver. The only receiver I've ever owned is a Yamaha, but I want something different. It seems to have come down to either a Denon, Sherwood Newcastle, Pioneer or even another Yamaha. I'll just have to wait for the things to hit the market and read the reviews, I guess.

I just got this receiver. Haven't hooked it up yet.
Yamaha

Let us know what you think of this. Congrats by the way.

Hmm that link doesn't seem to work anymore.

This should work.
Yamaha 6080B

That Yamaha looks real similar to the V661 that I have. I bought it as a back up and was going to peddle it, but ended up liking it so much, I can’t seam to part with it and I’ve got two guys who will give what I paid for it. It’s a great little receiver.

The only bitch I have is that the stupid thing defaults back to “Auto” extend surround every time I turn it off. When this happens, I have to go into the set up menu and change extended surround back to PLIIx. I know that sounds trivial, but it really is an irritant to have to do that.

I was all fired up to buy one of the new 1.3 receivers or a pre / pro, but have decided that I’m going to sit this one out for a few months. I want to make sure that whatever I buy, that it has a few miles on it and I can ask users what they think. I don’t recall ever hearing about a new gadget that didn’t come with bugs that users get to bitch about for a year while they wait for a firmware update to correct.

Mike, just noticed your plaintive cry. Have you tried changing the the default "Auto" on the decoder mode setting to "Last"?

Yep….

It’s an oddity that Yamaha engineers did. Whenever the unit is turned off and then back on, it defaults to “Auto”. There is absolutely nothing that can be done about that unless I leave it powered on. I do not like leaving electrical / electronic gadgets powered on so I’m screwed in that regards. I did try to program a macro with my MX 850, but it only works half the time.

Hopefully Yamaha will come out with a firmware update that will address this.