Redhawk, you seem less than enthused......perhaps because you are the consumate T/C Encore man?
I have a feeling I know who the overly enthusiastic gun writer was. If it's him, he loves or hates different guns depending on what suits him at the moment. I think that the KP1 looks like a winner to me, but as for solving the problems of the Encore, well, there are an awful lot of Encores being sold by T/C, and there are lots of Encore owners who wouldn't trade their gun for anything. The Encore definitely has the market on custom acccessories and available chamberings. There are problems that are inherent to the break action design, and regardless of who makes the gun, they are always going to be there. T/C has them, H&R has them, and the Knight is going to have them too. Sometimes they are a big issue, sometimes not, each gun is different.
As for price, well, most times Knight prices are on the higher side--I'd say the price for the stainless ones will be around the $600 area, less for the blued. Hopefully, it is a better design than the Revolution and the Vision were, I've seen both and don't care for either, and I tend to like Knight rifles quite a bit. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I think that the Encore is a good looking gun, mostly because it looks so different than anything else on the market. A bit radical if you will. The KP1 seems to be following the classic flowing lines of over/under shotguns (I love O/U's), so people who don't like the Encore are probably going to love the KP1. I'll look at one for sure, but I doubt that I'll buy one.