Bob has put into blunt words what many of us have been discussing and wondering about for some time now. I for one would really appreciate someone at Home Theater Master (HTM) responding directly on this point.
It seems that every time a delay occurs in the anticipated introduction of the MX-1000, we are left wondering what happened for a while, and then an HTM message appears out of the blue, announcing yet again that the MX-1000 has been held back until it is somehow infinitely better than sliced bread -- absolutely beyond perfection and the answer to our dreams. (Rather a tall order for any product, wouldn't you agree?)
Then we saw another HTM announcement a few weeks ago that stated, among other things, that the HTM website is the sole, OFFICIAL source of information regarding the model's rollout. At the same time (and until VERY recently), the HTM site continued to promise delivery in the first quarter of 2000.
Back in the good old (pre-Internet) days, consumers had no easy way of communicating amongst each other to comment on products and speculate on improvements to be incorporated into future product lines. Lately, however, we here may be like the proverbial cart pulling the horse in our impatience to see the new unit. I really don't believe that anyone posting comments at this site would want HTM to release the MX-1000 before it was ready for our educated, discerning fingertips.
Mr. Gifford (and all at HTM), we do like your company, we do like your products, and we certainly do like the thought of getting our sweaty little hands on the MX-1000. It goes without saying (thought I'll say it anyway) that HTM as a manufacturer does not 'owe' anything to us in terms of specific information about a model that has yet to appear on the market. Nor need you respond to every nasty jab that appears in someone's remarks, here or elsewhere. For that matter, out of the entire target market the MX-1000 is aimed to, the relatively few of us here who are sufficiently interested in it to spend time discussing it and wishing for it would likely not make much of a dent in total sales of the unit.
Be that as it may, what we as individuals very much appreciate is the courtesy and good business sense of a manufacturer and its representatives to provide us, to the extent possible, with a realistic, fairly firm release date for the MX-1000. I'm not asking for confidential business strategies here, just a response to a reasonable, collective request from many loyal, existing and potential customers.
