I'm eyeing a new receiver and I've almost narrowed it to two: The Yamaha RX-497 and the HK 3380 or 3480. (Well, OK...that's three).

Background: I'm not an audiophile, I just enjoy good sound from a simple, straightforward music system. No home theater or surround interests here, at least not yet. And I'm on a pretty strict budget right now. Current speakers are JBL L-40s, an 80s-era "bookshelf" (i.e. so large that they have to sit on pedestals on the floor), although they need refoaming. Because they take up so much space in my small 18 x 14 living room I'm thinking of downsizing...the B&W DM601 and 602 look & sound attractive. My musical tastes are classical, bluegrass and classic rock in about equal proportions.

What I'm thinking: Pluses for the HKs are the simple design, the high current amp and the slightly lower price. The Yamaha, OTOH, has the variable loudness countour and the the pure direct feature. Yamaha doesn't seem much available online, though, and the prices seem higher. Both seem to get decent reviews in AR and elsewhere.

Any helpful opinions? Are any of the features I've mentioned worthwhile, or are they hype? If anyone has any first hand experience with these models, I'd appreciate it (or if there are some good alternatives that I'm missing). Thanks in advance.