Budget AV Receiver with Magnepan

At the amount you want to spend I'd stay with the Denon. Not my favorite receiver but good none-the-less. That 70w x 5 rating is probably at 8 ohms. The Maggies are quite resistive for a speaker...which is a good thing. At they're 4 or 5 ohm rating your Denon will easily average over 100w to 140w with no problem. I have a Marantz surround and use the internal amps for the back MG 10.1QR's and my center ch. Roger Ls3/5a's. [neither made anymore, unfortunately] and the Marantz does well, rated at about what the Denon is. Marantz has a slightly better power supply. Also, if you use a sub, you can set the speakers to 'small' in the processor program and that cuts out the bottom 80 or 100 hz to any pair are all pairs of speakers and sends that info to the sub.
If ya just gotta buy something new, price vs. power, I'd recommend either the NAD mentioned above or a Marantz. After that the Rotel and then the Yamaha. Many others to name.
p.s. I sold a set of Little MG.5's to a couple once [in the 80's, selling mid & hi-end ]. They really liked the clean sound but then they brought their Yamaha in to hear it hooked up before buying. Big disappointment! It just had no bottom, no meat, no life. So...they bought a Marantz & we were all happy again.
By the way. Sound may double every three db. but it takes 10db for the ear to perceive a doubling of sound. It's just the mother nature made us.

I did some searching online, and found that the Denon AVR-1700 has preouts for the front speakers. You might consider putting your money instead into a budget multichannel amp such as an Adcom, Emotiva, or Outlaw. Then hook up the preouts of your current receiver to the outboard amp to let it power the main L/R and center speaker and let the receiver take care of the surrounds. If you desire an upgrade further on down the road, upgrade to a HT receiver that has full 5.1 or 7.1 preouts and run all speakers off the multichannel amp.

I used to have an NAD T760 driving some PSB speakers, and it sounded just OK. When I added an outboard amp (Sherbourn 5/1500A), though, the performance up easily a couple full notches.

Michael

I HAVE An NAD T753 7.1 AV SURROUND RECEIVER WHICH I USED FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND MAGNEPAN MMGS WHICH I USED FOR 6 MONTHS..both in perfect condition...no dents..no scratches...I HAVE THE BOXES AND MANUALS.....MAKE ME AN OFFER !

TAKE CARE...REGARDS...GOD BLESS!

Hey great ideas! I didn't even think about the preamp outs with an outboard amp - that way I can stage going to seperates over time. Not a bad idea at all. I'm also interested in looking at the Marantz av receivers, as I've heard good things about them but never really considered them. The thing about reading reviews about A/V receivers is that there is a sliding scale - one person will say X receiver is amazing, because they only have used low end receivers. Another person will say X receiver is trash, because they usually use high end seperates. It's a sliding scale :)

Eventually I plan to retire the Denon even as a preamp, because I want at least component video switching (just grabbed a new Samsung 42" plasma) if not the new fancy HDMI stuff. The guy at Circuit City poo-pooed component and said HDMI was the only way to go for HD, but I'm not so sure I believe him.

My Blu-Ray player only outputs 1080p through the HDMI, and I think that's the case with all players. So if you want HD, you have to use an HDMI connection. Otherwise, you'll have to live with 480p.