a few months back when I was still looking I posted :
You know, any of these will be fine but I just wanted to let you know that 4 months ago I was also in the market for my first HT setup and while I think the HK line was the most pleasing to look at, to my ears it colored the music in a sort of "muzak" sort of way if you know what I mean. I also looked at the Onkyo TX-SR700 and the Denon 2803. Both were very comparable but the Denon won out"....

Yes'm receivers do sound different!