instead of a receiver i would look into rotel and nad's integraded amps, like the rotel RA 01 and RA1060 or the nad C3200bee and C352. you can add a tuner to them later down the line if you want. as for the NAD740 and the rotel rx1050 they really arn't even at the same level the rotel being 100 watts per channel and the nad 35 watts per channel. But you have to figure out what your needs are in a system and then and get what sounds best to you.