Any specific reason you're recommending against Onkyo & Denon?
personal experience is one
the onkyo may be very good to start off .Even i did like the brand a lot and have had onkyo amps from last 10years ( 575 , 787, 875) if someone ever passed bad remarks would feel hurt .
with time the first weakness i noticed was that it really sounded dull for stereo (what ever the given modes) this i noticed when i got an entry level yamaha 497 stereo amp ,the rcvrs were no where near
Though for HT was happy with the RCvrs ,though never satisfied with the power reserves although they claim big ,it was only used as a pre only for HT
after listening to seperates ,i would say that the onkyo i owned was no where near ,not even close to make a comparision
i do guess all the rcvrs from the likes of the common brands available to us irrespective of the company wud be more or less the same
no comments on denon --i dont own them
its just that i have moved away from rcvrs to separates and find the sound from all in one boxes, AVRs included do not excite at all , have put in a lot of money on them too ,so just an advice for people like me to invest in better gear and have a better Experience