You're smart to try to A/B both models; there's no better way to eliminate "what if?" syndrome.
FWIW, try to determine what features and functions you actually need, and/or will realistically use,
before you shop. That way you're not allowing the gee-whiz factor dictate your needs. Just my $.02 from having experienced "budget creep" while I was comparing: "What? For an extra $100 I can get the Gee-gaw-o-matic®? I never knew I needed that; I'll take two!"
In all fairness, I feel like I can rationalize everything I spent. But it's easy to get carried away if you don't have a plan going in.
As to music vs. movies performance, I have no complaints. Quite the opposite. 'Course, this being my first HT/Surround setup, I'm pretty easily impressed. I haven't really pushed the SPL envelope yet (waiting for my wife to go shopping for a few hours
), but I've gotten it to ~75dB on music and some LFE-rich movies (The Right Stuff, The Fifth Element, Monsters, Inc., Raiders o/t Lost Ark), all DD 5.1, and it takes about three days for the grin to wear off.
One thing I liked about the Denon over the Yamahas was that it actually has
fewer DSP modes. Enough to play with, but not so many that you feel like they could have put expense and energy to better use in, say, the amp section.
For music, I keep it on Direct (L/R+sub) most of the time. I dabbled with the 5-channel stereo for a bit (must...justify...all...speakers...) but somehow less is, as it turns out, more.
