My take is that bob's guess is close. gonk kind of summed it up nicely in another thread. Many of the more mainstream companies (such as Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, etc...) have much shorter product cycles so they have new stuff coming out more often. These same companies also don't really do much with pre/pros, if they do anything at all. They'll have things like USB and firewire added in too. Other little knicknacks like that.

What really gets me is the amp recommendation on top of the receiver. I don't fully get that. Are those little extra features worth the extra cost of the receiver plus the extra $800+ for the amp? This really comes into play when speakers are not 8 ohms. Not all these receivers can play below 8 ohms, so they are in trouble. That is a LOT of extra money we're talking about. I just don't feel the need.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I'm far more interested in the pure sound of the unit. I just don't get why all those other little trinkets are so important.