Tom - As you probably know from reading this thread, I've listened to almost a half-dozen AVR's here in my home over the past year or so, and none of them sounded as good (most not nearly as good) as the 1070.

However, I seem to be much more critical of sound quality when listening to music in 2.1 mode. If I used my system solely for HT and background music as you do, I think I could have been reasonably satisfied with most of them I tried..... although the Denon receiver I brought home was *not* one of them. That thing sounded thin and lifeless to me even on old I Love Lucy reruns. Really!!