Yeah, I have been looking at receivers for a while just to track the Atmos/DTS:X progress in receivers for about a year and it is disappointing. I mean, the general consensus is that 7.1.4 is ideal for any room that can do it, and the biggest limiter in the room is if you have 2 rear surrounds (7.1 vs. 5.1) and if your seats are at least a couple of feet from the back wall.
So what do we get? Mainly 5.1.2 receivers for under $1000, 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 for under a couple of grand, and to get a 7.1.4 system (without needed a separate amp) it is even more.
Then there is DTS:X... The receivers out there that came with the "free upgrade" to DTS:X (first update to hit in 2 days) have a few limits due to the hardware specs that the manufacturers were given and what the codec is actually requiring. One of these that is making a lot of people frustrated at AVS is no support for "wide" speakers, so no 9.1.2 option, which some experts say is superior to even 7.1.4 for most people.
Top it off that most receiver manufacturers dropped Audyssey for their own auto-setup/room correction software, and most of those aren't very good in comparison.
So yeah, I'm not impressed either.
