I've owned two Onkyo receivers so far, and I am a huge fan of the company: my TX-SR600 ran flawlessly and filled a massive room I was running it in with its 80 watts a channel; from the front soundstage to the sweet spot was fifteen or so feet, and with vaulted ceilings, the rear channels, in the ceiling, was nine feet to the sweet spot and even still, this receiver filled the room.
I now run a TX-SR605 because of its advanced decoding abilities, and although I haven't been able to utilize these features yet, the thing is just built like a tank: I can remember when a friend of mine first turned me on to Onkyo, where in his room, he had one of their two channel power amps driving his Infinity speakers....after that, he got an Onkyo stereo receiver which absolutely smacked of power -- man, this thing sounded like a power amp. I then, on his recommendation, picked up my TX-SR600 and it lasted me up until this new high definition/HDMI revolution....
There's something about Onkyo's products...the look, the feel....the all-aluminum front panels....the units just appear and look like they mean business. If I were in the market, from scratch, for a receiver in the "affordable" price category, I would only go with Onkyo or Denon; Yamaha makes some great stereo receivers, which I've owned over the years, but I don't know too much about their surround receiver stuff...
And whatever you do....stay away from Sony in receivers....UNLESS it's their ES line....
:raped:
AMPLIFICATION/PROCESSING:
ONKYO TX-SR605
Onboard Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD, DTS HD Master Audio; HDMI 1.3a
SOURCING:
Panasonic DMP-BD10A Blu-ray Disc Player
marantz CC-67 5-Disc Compact Disc Changer
marantz DR700 Compact Disc Recorder
LOUDSPEAKER SUITE:
Mains: polkaudio R20
Center: polkaudio CSi30
Surrounds: polkaudio R15
Sub: polkaudio PSW10
Stands by Sanus Systems Natural Foundations
DISPLAY:
SONY 50" SXRD Rear Projection
POWER PROTECTION:
APC SurgeArrest
INTERCONNECTS & SPEAKER CABLE BY MONSTER