the apple's not really the same; no display.

Yes, but it does appear to be a move towards that kind of product. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.

it must p*ss the empeg guys off that even though they were first to market they've got nothing out there now.

It annoys me that we haven't, but it annoys me even more that nobody else has either.

I reckon a networkable Denon with amp/tuner/cd and a nice display would do well.

D&M's current nearest approach to that market is via Escient, but that's not quite the same thing either (video out instead of a display). Also, despite (or perhaps because of) the lack of any prices on their website, I suspect they're not cheap.

If you don't mind video-out instead of a display, there's various bits of gear you can use. But personally I don't want to turn my telly on just to play music.

Edit: and there's this, but the screen is LCD, i.e. unreadable, and you've got to feel for the reviewer who wrote "I had a hunch the software was going to suck and the firmware would be sketchy and I was right."

Peter