If your #1 concern is sound quality, I would recommend sticking to a good pre/pro (the older and quite inexpensive Krell HTS sounds awesome) and a good 5 channel amp. It will probably end up costing you close to the same as a new receiver, but sound quality will be superior. You will probably give up some of the lossless decoding capabilities (quite a few BluRay players can do that for you though), and very likely HDMI switching (connect video directly to Plasma with audio going through coaxial and/or 5.1 analog input for lossless decoding in the BluRay player).
Arcam does make some very good sounding receivers and the Sunfires sound decent but can deliver lots of power and will drive almost anything.
Arcam does make some very good sounding receivers and the Sunfires sound decent but can deliver lots of power and will drive almost anything.