"Elorian":
From what I've been reading only recently, right now, the receiver to buy (or at least look at) is Onkyo. The current Onkyos have been doing well in reviews and in tests of all the magazines (and most noteworthy, the Onkyo 605 and 805 tend to give you a lot of bang for the buck). These Onkyos have all of the latest features and codecs, features that most competitors don't even offer or can't touch at the moment. That being said alone, the Onkyo models definitely deserve a hard look.
For your budget, I would also consider receivers from Denon (in that line, I like the new 2307 (HDMI Connectivity, the latest format codecs and a Faroudja Deinterlacer that can upconvert up to 1080p...... for less than $800.00....... has 100W x 7 amplification too)), Marantz SR5002, one of the NAD models or a Yamaha RX-V661 or RX-V881.
Or if you don't mind a lower power output and/or don't need a lot of power (and in the end, it current that drives the loudspeaker and not just wattage), I could also steer you toward the Harman/Kardon AVR-347.
So you see, for your price range, you have at least several (if not a lot) of options to choose from.
I liked the Nakamichi AV-10 when it was out. Sorry that it had to die a graceful death. May the Nakamichi AV-10 rest in piece.
Anyway....... Good Luck and Happy Shopping.......
--Charles--
From what I've been reading only recently, right now, the receiver to buy (or at least look at) is Onkyo. The current Onkyos have been doing well in reviews and in tests of all the magazines (and most noteworthy, the Onkyo 605 and 805 tend to give you a lot of bang for the buck). These Onkyos have all of the latest features and codecs, features that most competitors don't even offer or can't touch at the moment. That being said alone, the Onkyo models definitely deserve a hard look.
For your budget, I would also consider receivers from Denon (in that line, I like the new 2307 (HDMI Connectivity, the latest format codecs and a Faroudja Deinterlacer that can upconvert up to 1080p...... for less than $800.00....... has 100W x 7 amplification too)), Marantz SR5002, one of the NAD models or a Yamaha RX-V661 or RX-V881.
Or if you don't mind a lower power output and/or don't need a lot of power (and in the end, it current that drives the loudspeaker and not just wattage), I could also steer you toward the Harman/Kardon AVR-347.
So you see, for your price range, you have at least several (if not a lot) of options to choose from.
I liked the Nakamichi AV-10 when it was out. Sorry that it had to die a graceful death. May the Nakamichi AV-10 rest in piece.
Anyway....... Good Luck and Happy Shopping.......
--Charles--