A/V Receiver Q's: $1k to spend, looking for options

[JSE]

Denon 8303, Yammie 2400 are a couple of good considerations.
Denon will be more base than the Yammie which tends to be on the bright side in comparasion. If you had/have bright speakers I would lean towards the Denon (depending on your preferences to sound, base or bright) My point here is .... yammie is brighter than denon

This is a common misconception many have about newer Yamaha receivers. In the past, yes they were considered a little "bright". The newer lines of Yamaha's especially the RX-V1400/2400 and the flagship Z9 are not bright. Are they more detailed than Denon, maybe but that's still up for debate. I run a Yamaha 1400 with Boston Acoustic speakers and the sound is anything but bright. It's been a while but I remember those PSB Stratus Silvers as being pretty warm and laid back. Very similiar to my Bostons. I love the sound I get with my setup. The detail of the Yamaha and the warmness of the Bostons produce a very smooth sound. Sounds like the detailed Yamaha might be good match.

JSE