AVR receivers

Denon, Arcam and Rotel come to mind.

There is a used Marantz SR-19 THX receiver for sell asking $650. It is an excellent receiver and built better than the newer ones in my opinion. Excellent sonics. I think it retailed for about $2000. Hard to beat. It has a pathway for pure 2 channel eliminating all processing for purist sound.
Too me, used is the way to go on receivers. You can get SOOOO much more for your money!

The Yamaha RXV-2700 is available on this site from dealers NEW in your price range.

There are a number of considerations. For example, do you want HDMI connections? Are you going to have 5.1 or 7.1? Warm sound or crisp/sharp sound? What kind of speaker connections do you have/want?

"Sound5":

I like the Denon AVR-2807 and the Yamaha RX-V1700 (I happen to own a Yamaha RX-V1600 and I love the shit out of it) and maybe you should also look at the Marantz SR5001. Not sure about the Onkyo however.

I would hunt down a "close-out" or used Rotel as well. Arcam is excellent, but unless you are buying a used one, Arcam is a little too rich for my blood.

--Charles--

What would be a good choice for a receiver with HDMI that coreectly decodes Hi Rez, and also has preamp outs for 6.1? Any inexpensive preamps that have HDMI?