Well, the much-hyped vaporware product of 1996 seems to be trickling out. Jonathan (Javiation UK) says he's getting a slow but steady stream of production units, and I received serial #90 from him this morning. The unit comes with a rmeote, full manual, and a brick-style regulated 15 VDC power supply for US wall current.
Some random first impressions after 3 hours' playing during daylight hours.
One is first struck by the size. If you stack an HF-150 sideways on top of the AR7030, you can see that it is only about 50% larger than the Lowe. Almost a portatop. Fit and finish is, as the reviewers have said, very impressive. Solid alumiminum frame with anodized or black hammertone paint throughout. Bright 2-line LCD alphanumeric display (with a little ghosting of the top line onto the bottom at times). Nice, solid tuning knob which spins freely.
Excellent audio. Even the built-in speaker is acceptable in a pinch, if you turn up the bass. I never thought I'd find a receiver with a better sync detector than the HF-150 ... until now. Watching it home on a signal in "auto" mode is a sight to behold. Geez, it makes the R8a's sync look like a toy.

Not a trace of overloading. No birdies or intermod products detected yet; but I have not yet used it at night when the signals are strong. The selection of stock filters, as Magne points out, have a hole in the 4-5 MHz area. After the SSB filter (#1), my #2 measures at 5.2 MHz which is a little wide. However, the pass band shift does allow for considerable leeway in getting around an interfering station on one side or the other.
Also like the reviewers said, the remote control is iffy - even with IR detectors on both front AND back of the radio. I'm hesitant to admit it, but a confirmatory beep would be nice. The menus take a good hour or two to get used to, but it does become semi-intuitive after a while. I was very intimidated at first, and that says a lot. The ability to choose what items and control functions are displayed could become highly addictive.
A coarse 1 or 5 KHz up/down button (like the R8/a) would be nice on the front panel too, though the remote control has such a function. The manual does the job, I guess, but it needs an index and could be a lot clearer in many sections. AOR ought to contract out to Jonathan to re-write it. :-)

On Monday May 6 I received my AR7030 receiver via FedEX from the communications retailer Javiation in the UK. The 695 UK pounds price to the States (including shipping) worked out to $1066 US. This puts the AR7030 in the same price class as a Drake R8A in the USA, although I have yet to receive the bill from the customs agent for the 3% import duty. This will put the total at approximately $1098. If one doesn't mind the risks involved with overseas purchases this is the way to go, as the cost from US outlets reportedly will be around $1299 street price. (Jonathan Clough at Javiation is excellent to deal with, however, and regularly sells to US customers. This is the second time I've bought a receiver through Javiation without a hitch.) Note the missing "i" in "Javiation" if e-mailing: info@javiaton.demon.co.uk
Due to my schedule I haven't had the time to do a thorough shake-down of the AR7030. A DXpedition--for trans-Pacific mediumwave and tropical bands--is planned later this month for the purpose. The following points are strictly initial observations.

Concstruction and design: Aesthetics are certainly a personal matter, but in my opinion the AR7030 is quite good looking. The overall appearance resembles current British audio equipment-- it does not have that "military industrial" look common to many shortwave receivers.
The all-metal front panel and case are excellently finished and extremely robust. The front panel is at least 5/16" thick and the large main tuning knob is solid anodized metal and very comfortable for bandscanning. The two smaller rotary controls are not as comfortable or attractive, being rather tiny knobs attached to mechanical encoders with quite "stiff" click-stops. It helped to refasten the knobs a bit further out on their 1/4" diameter shafts, but I may try to modify the encoders' internal click-stop spring or detent mechanism (as I did successfully on a Grundig Satellit 500 some years ago).
The display is very readable and the soft green backlight is easy on the eyes. I very much appreciate the AR7030's ability to display nearly every parameter of the receiver-- even the bass and treble adjustments are shown, in plus or minus decibels. Decades from now, will we fondly remember the dot-matrix displays of the 1990's, just as many now get nostalgic at the mention of glowing pilot lamps and slide-rule dials? Hmmm...
The supplied infrared remote control is handicapped with small rubbery rectangles masquerading as pushbuttons (common practice on many remotes). Fortunately, 100% of the keystrokes "take" on my unit and it is very forgiving when aiming it anywhere in the general vicinity of the radio. I initially thought the silkscreening on the remote was defective, but the fuzzy appearance went away when I discovered and peeled off the clear protective plastic! A more ergonomic remote controller may be possible by programming a larger, "universal" remote and modifying with appropriate labeling. However, the supplied remote controller works as advertised and I'm starting to get used to its feel.
Speaking of ergonomics, it took a couple hours of use to become comfortable with the operation of the AR7030. When used in conjunction with the remote keypad it handles and operates easily. I'll stress here that this is strictly MY opinion, and others may be just as adamant that they consider the ergonomics poor. The receiver should be given a fair chance, though, because its full operation is not learned quickly. The custom "setup" menu is nice and really aids quick switching to favorite parameters for tropical band DXing, general SWLing, mediumwave DXing, etc. I almost feel as if I'm operating a laptop computer when using the AR7030, such is the effect of the remote, the software menus and the alphanumeric dot-matrix display. Those who cannot bear to operate anything that doesn't feel like the large, classic rigs of yesteryear will view the AR7030 as mere gadgetry. In my opinion it is not an unusual or difficult receiver to operate, but rather fun to control after the initial learning curve.

Manual: The excellent manual is one of the best around, among contemporary rigs. Curiously it lacks the British colloquilisms found in other UK equipment manuals. It almost reads as if it was written by an US writer. Particularly interesting are the discussions about the filter calibration routine and the automatic-tuning synchronous detector. The section on filter calibration explains why actual measured values vary from nominal/minimum passband and stopband figures for ceramic and mechanical filters.

Performance: Here are some thoughts & impressions of the AR7030 after only a few days of use. Overall: Impressive on weak DX. Intelligibility seems a notch above that of other receivers I've owned (R7, R8, Europa, etc.), aided no doubt by the AR7030's low noise level and high dynamic range. However, I'm going on memory here as I have not yet made direct comparisons to other receivers. (A friend and I will be doing an A/B test against a WJ HF-1000 receiver... that should prove interesting!)
On various Indonesian stations on 90 and 75 meters, the AR7030 provided reception at least as good as that from my previous rigs. The true test of the radio's calibre will be trans-Pacific MW DXing from the Washington coast later this month.
I like the wide range of the passband shift; it helps to push many offending hets right off the edge of the passband. For stubborn hets I have an audio DSP unit available to automatically notch out hetrodynes. AOR has an optional notch filter planned for the AR7030 later this year.
AGC: I don't know what magic John Thorpe has done, but the values invoked by LSB/USB modes provide great performance. The three speeds of SLOW, MED, FAST, plus OFF will all be useful in various signal situations while ECSS tuning.
Audio quality is great, typical of John Thorpe's designs. This can only help to ID weak stations: coupled with the flexible & useful passband shift, AGC, and tone controls it gives the DXer a good shot making the most of a weak, difficult signal.
IF filtering is impressive although an intermediate width of 4.0-4.5 kHz is missed. The narrow 2.0 filter is the choice for the toughest DX when operating in ECSS; it's truly excellent.
When used with the flexible passband shift, the wider intermediate filters (measuring 5.4 and 6.5 on my unit) are definitely useable on a variety of signals. I have Kiwa Electronics' CLF-D2K high performance ceramic filter installed and it is a useful bandwidth. I also tried a couple of Kiwa active filter modules I had on hand (3.5 kHz), but both were much too noisy. Craig at Kiwa suspects the IF level in the radio is too low for proper operation. Craig is currently doing some performance measurements on the AR7030 and he will be able to check the IF level also. The five filters currently installed in my AR7030 measure: 2.0, 2.9 (Kiwa CLF-D2K), 5.4, 6.5, and 9.5. The widest filter of 9.5 is suitable for a strong signal in the clear (passband shift may have to be employed). However, on a shortwave signal I cannot tell any audible benefit from opening up the bandwidth from the 6.5 kHz selection. The 9.5 width is mainly intended for narrowband FM.
A real plus is the optimum alignment of filters after the calibration routine is run. When switching from LSB to USB or vice-versa I can detect NO change in pitch or audio quality for any bandwidth.

Syncrhronous detection: This mode has the tenacity of a mountain goat, and clings to signals weak and strong without problems. It is the best I've ever encountered, period. Finally, a synchronous detector that a DXer can use! The passband shift can be adjusted liberally in SNC mode without causing squeals of complaint or loss of lock. My ears cannot detect any rise in distortion in SNC mode (as reported in the RNMN review); in fact, audio sounds definitely better than with the AM envelope detector. With passband shift carefully adjusted, the Kiwa 2.9 kHz filter sounds very good using synchronous AM mode.
My test signal for synchronous detection with any receiver is RNZI on 15115 kHz during my local evenings. It's often subject to annoying rapid fades after sunset. The Drake R8 would lose lock frequently and "bend" musical tones unmercifully, but there's no such problem when using the AR7030-- I have not heard it lose lock even once on 15115.
Dual watch is an unusual feature worth mentioning. It is similar to "priority" scan on a VHF/UHF scanner. It allows the automatic monitoring of a second channel at intervals, time delays, and squelch settings of your choice. I anticipate using this while DXing an active station to automatically check another frequency (say, once every thirty seconds) for sign of a carrier or audio (indicating a DX station about to sign on, or the fade-up of a wanted station).
I believe this radio is going to polarize radio enthusiasts, due to the AR7030's radical approach to HF receiver design. Features like filter measurement & alignment, auto-tune synchronous detection, and the automatically-adjusting RF gain have not been seen before in consumer-grade receivers. It's clear that this receiver is good; the question remains, just HOW good is it? I think a consensus will rise to the surface within a year, as more AR7030s make their way into DXers' shacks. In any event, John Thorpe and the AOR staff are to be commended on their bold move with the introduction of the AR7030.