Yamaha, Denon, Sony, etc. have a way of being a little liberal with their wattage ratings. The HK's will deliver their stated wattage and more with all channels driven at the same time, where other receiver manufacturers measure theirs with only two channels driven. My Yamaha HTR-5790 says 110 watts x 7, but with all channels driven at the same time it's probably putting out about 35-40 watts per channel. It's still a good bang for the buck receiver. Another one that is getting lots of press at the moment is the Pioneer 1014. It's basically an Elite 52TX with a few less features. One thing your relative needs to consider is how fast technology moves. Most brands release new models every year, so he may not want to spend that much with only a 3.1 setup. Why pay $700 for a receiver when you are only using about a buck fifty of the features? By a cheaper, used 5.1 receiver and put the rest into other areas until they are ready to make the jump to a full setup. Just some things to consider and my 2 cents. If, however, they're going to go 5.1 within a year, go ahead and get a new receiver.