I am seriously considering the Yamaha RX-V667 and completely ignoring its amplifier section. It has pre-outs for external power amps (not XLR though) and the price is US$550-ish. (Google Shopping found it going for $375 but datavis.com does not have a good score on resellerratings.)

See also a review and an AVS thread.

Axiom M80s + QS8s + VP180 <-- Pioneer VSX-1120-K <-- Squeezebox Touch / XBox360 / Oppo BDP-93