I just gave up a Sony 995 (to my kids) for an Onkyo 801. I've always looked at Onkyo as "just a little beyond my budget". but I found it on sale at CC for under $800. It does seem to hit a sale every few weeks at CC.
The Onkyo 801 sounded better than the Sony right off the bat. However the front panel lights died after 6 weeks and I found two local dealers to get warranty work with. As far as I know the only way to get a Sony fixed under warranty is to ship it to them. Having swiped the Sony 995 back from my kids while I waited for the repair, I was even more impressed with the sound of the Onkyo. Whenever you buy something new you want to like it, so it will probably sound great to your ears anyway. But take it away and see if the old sound holds up. I really like the Onkyo!
It has hidden features like the ability to set up the speakers individually, but the Sony can only setup speaker distances in pairs. All-in-all I'm much happer with the Onkyo than I ever have been with the Sony. One last thing... check the THD. I don't know about the Sony ES line, but the new Sony 997 has more THD than the least expensive Onkyo receiver.
