Nick, as you are going to be using an external amp you really only need to concern yourself with the features each avr can offer for a given price point. Right now the best bang for the buck IMO is Onkyo. It appears to me that Denon has dropped its quality in all of their avr's except the flagship 4520 and you can get all of those features for much less in an Onkyo. I haven't had a chance to hear or look over any recent offerings from H/K, Yamaha nor Pioneer. I am intrigued by the latest from Anthem with the MRX series and Outlaw's AV975. I think the 975 would be a home run if they offered ARC or Audyssey on it.
