Ritz: I have been looking at receivers and pre/pros for over a year now. I have carefully studied all the performance specifications. I have read numerous professional and user reviews and comments.

Quite frankly I believe all the comments about something being warm, bright, etc. is just so much BS. If you believe the specifications on frequency spectrum and THD, there is NO engineering way that one can be warmer or brighter or more neutral than any other unless there is something going on in the digital signal processing.

Then for the digital processing, we have the specifications for Dolby Digital, THX, and other certification. If you believe the manufacturer specifications that they meet certification then there is no difference there, either.

The ONLY difference I can find is in the power supply as to whether ALL channels can be driven simultaneously. Most receivers can not do this. Most receivers suffer from this. That's why I am going to use the Onkyo as a pre/ pro and get some "honkin" amps.

I also believe the notion that you should do video switching and conversion in your audio gear to be wrong. Do your audio stuff in your audio gear, and, do your video stuff in your video gear. I have a new Sony SXRD and a OPPO DVD, I don't need my audio gear to do anything with video signals.

After over a year of looking, I have some pretty strong opinions.