I don't really know of any serious problems. I like the look of Sony stuff, especially the new Silver ES stuff. That 170 w/ch thing looks like a tank! The new Paradigm Signature looks great too, the ugliest thing i've seen is a Phillips stereo at Wal-Mart. The speakers each had 3 ports on the front each labeled "Max Port 1" "Max Port 2" "Max Port 3" and some old junk. It looked like a piece of space junk to me. "Rip Off 1" "Cheap parts 2" "Scam 3" people can write anything on a stereo. Like that stupid max port. It's the same as any other port. Except the price is higher and it has a name. That's what people will buy who don't have a lot of knowledge in audio. Sorry to get off topic