Receiver advice for the new guy please

[wugak]

My system now consists of old Polk monitor 5's, and some newer Polk gear to fill in the surround system. My Onkyo SV525 just blew up because I am an idiot and allowed the center channel plugs to touch and it cooked something. Oh well, its 7 years old anyway... (I may have it fixed and use it in another room or donate to a relative)

So I need a new receiver... my 50" LCD TV, CD, VCR, car audio etc are all Sony. I like Sony and would like to keep some order to my life but I do not have a good feeling for their receivers. Any decent remote will operate any brand of gear so maybe keeping it all Sony isn't necessary. My Onkyo was an ok middle model and it served me well. Local dealers I support carry Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, Sony and Marantz. I have no feeling for most of these. You know how you think Chevy and get an image in your head? Then think BMW and that image changes? I don't have that feeling for receivers from these guys.

Budget is maybe $6-800 or so. I like fairly loud techno type music, or older 80's pop music. I like loud sci-fi movies as well and play a fair bit of Xbox where surround systems really help.

Advice about each brand and any specific model to check out? Listening to them side by side in a store is tough....

Thank you

[NickWH]

Actually, Sony may not be as bad as you think:

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_read.asp?ID=2813

[spacedeckman]

I'm pretty much in the Yamaha camp, but some of the new Denon stuff is looking pretty good. The 3805 is probably the best sounding receiver they've built in 10-15 years. For that money, I would be looking at the Yamaha RXV1500. Pretty trick piece.

Disregard European reviews of Sony and Pioneer products. The stuff they get is often quite different amplifierwise than what we get in North America.