I've spent the past few months looking for a new receiver to replace my Yammie. I don't seem to be getting anywhere. I've read many articles and forums. I've read comments such as Yamaha underpowers their products and isn't any good for music, but they are great for HT, similar to Denon, Marantz runs hot and are possibly unreliable, HK is good when they work. What's a guy to do?

I just thought it would be nice to have DPLII. Is it worth the aggravation?

Personally, I'd trust Pioneer Elite, Harman/Kardon, and Denon. If I were to choose again, it would be amongst those three. I don't have a solid reason why, but here's a few impressions. The Yammies underpowering are a big no-no in my book. The Marantzes are nice, but have had some problems with reliability (may well be resolved), and seem to be way overpriced for their feature set. The Pioneer Elites are/were well regarded around here, Axiom recommends H/K (or at least Alan does, and that's good enough for me), and Denon's really popular! However, people are generally happy with their recievers all around these boards.

I also went back and forth on recievers recently Elites....Yammy's....Denon.....Yammy's.....Elites. Anyway, after talking to a lot of guys on this forum, I got sick of the negatives on AVS, I bought the Denon 2805. I don't think you'll go wrong with any of those choices. I listened to all of them in a local high-end store on NHT's and B&W's, and also listened to a 3805 on Axiom's. My opinion was that the Denon sounded better overall when paired with detailed accurate speakers like Axioms, but the 53tx and 1400 where a close second in my book. I would say get the one that has the options you want. I liked the Pro Logic IIx, component conversion, and auto setup and room eq of the 2805. I'm currently using my old 80's pioneer 4-way mains, AR center, and infinity bookshelfs for surrounds, with no sub and this thing makes these speakers sing. Can't wait for the new Axioms to arrive tomorrow or Friday.

that reminds me, I need to go check the fed ex tracking to see if the jet is heading towards Des Moines yet good luck.

Yeah, Bruce, whatever receiver that you look at, you'll read someone condemning it, generally without any factual basis. Sure, DPLII(x)is a fine feature and automatic calibration and equalization is also worth trying. So, consider the Yamaha 5790 for a little over $500 or the Pioneer 1014 for a little over $400.