I didn't notice the receiver choice, but yeah, that seems like a lot of money for what is arguably a negligible, possibly non-existent, improvement in SQ and/or features.
I saw a nice Pioneer Elite receiver VX53 ? for $1000 - the smaller one was $500. Both looked like excellent pieces (as is the Denon Ray mentioned) and could be supplemented with an outboard amp that would never become outdated (as the big $ Denon receiver will become). Final result would be more power, less cost and some degree of future-proofing.
