As a previous owner of a Marantz SR-870, with 110 watts to the fronts and 75 to the rears, the 1050 blows it away! The Marantz sold originally for $1000, the biggest advantage was the RC-2000 remote which could operate a toaster if it were remote-controllable! The 1050 seems to have more dynamic reserves. I really like the flexible crossover, as it allows a good match for most speaker systems. I used to have a NAD/Rotel, preamp/amp setup prior to the Marantz. The 1050 has brought me REALLY close to that setup sonically(in fact,I can't think of any major differences). So there you go. At $499 it is still a great value.