Which AV Receiver?

And, he listens to music. So stereo. And, he does have a low budget- which as I pointed out you get a lot more for your money buying stereo vs multichannel. Also the center channel is only "critical" for people sitting way off axis. Which as roberjerman also pointed out is not even necessary and will even degrade the sound. So he goes even further than me.

Soap box? Honestly auxinput I have to wonder if you even bothered to read my post. Was there one single FACT in it you are able to find fault with? Is one word of it factually untrue? Of course not.

The ONE recommendation I make that stands out loud and clear is not buy this or buy that, but GO AND LISTEN! In other words, here’s a lot of solid info NOW GO MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND!

Something you should understand. Having made up yours to the point you never even bother reading any more.

The guys in the Amp forum recommended an AV Receiver but I don’t know anything about AV Receivers.

Here's everything you need to know about AV receivers: they are crap! Pure, unadulterated, crap. Here's why.

In audio we always face this choice: quality, or quantity. Quality costs big money. Quantity, not so much. This applies to every single bit of it right down to the transformers, caps and resistors in the box. Every single one of which can either sound good (quality) or measure good (quantity). 

So into your receiver box for $399 they have to somehow stuff enough parts for seven channels- seven amps, seven power supplies, seven sets of terminals, plus a dac or processor and God only knows how many inputs. All crammed right in close to each other, in defiance of the fact every one of these things puts out noise that pollutes and ruins the sound of the others. No wonder AV receivers are such crap!

Not to mention, you go the AV receiver/Home Theater route, now you are stuck somehow buying four or five or seven or whatever number the marketers have cooked up this week speakers. So no wonder all the HT speakers sound like crap! They are all being made for and sold to people who care more about quantity than quality.

You can try all this, compare, and this more than anything else is what I recommend: go and listen. If you do then I can guarantee this is what you will find-

ANY two channel integrated amp you can find in your $300-1000 price range will blow away THE BEST AV receiver you can find at any price. Will not even be close. You will hear the difference immediately.

At that point then either you will say stuff it I don't need all those extra channels, they are only gonna force me to listen to crap, or you will say gosh yeah this sounds just mesmerizingly intoxicatingly better but I'd rather have seven channels of crap and a crappy sub to go with cuz won't all my friends and the noobs on the interweb forums be impressed?

Your call. Choose wisely.