....very much the same case with Yamaha receivers and Klipsch speakers.... one of those old "wives tales" ...aint so...I have paired Yamaha and Denon with Klipsch Reference and Synergy series and frankly, no difference.I have a set of Boston CR8 bookshelves which really do hurt your ears and are painfully cheap...The Klipsch have the added advantage of efficiency which gives you are little margin of overkill for HT. The difference in sound of of electronics is very limited...shop the speakers because thats where the real preference is.