Jeff, there are so many excellent recievers on the market today and they will all deleiver excellent sound. I've had recievers by Denon, Pioneer, and currently Yamaha and they all "sounded" fine.
With recievers today all having great sound, the deal breaker is in the feature set. As of right now, the Yamaha RX-V 1400/2400 is one of the (if not the) most feature rich recievers in the sub $1500 price range.
As a side note, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be happening on Jan 8. There may be some new reciever introductions and it might be worth waiting to see whats new.
