I actually think Onkyo and Denon have cornered this market. They have very up to date, mid-priced units in the $500-$800 range that are not overly packed with features, but have what you need (ie. HDMI switching, good power, good processing), and elminate some of the audiophile tweaks like balanced inputs/outputs, phono, satellite radio, zones, picture calibration, etc.

I just recommended some units to someone whose Yamaha died. Of course I recommended the 990/7075 or 7125 combo, but that may have been out of his price range. I think the biggest current drawback to the 990 is lack of HDMI support, despite still being able to utilize the optical/coax inputs.