I currently have a philips amplifier and tuner of the 900 series which I love. But now I would like to have Dolby surround. Philips has recently come up with a new receiver model, the FR970. It has a Matchline label, so it should have some quality.

Since all my other hifi and video equipment is Philips I would like to stick to this brand. The only thing is, I have compared the specs of the new receiver with the specs of my old amp and the receiver comes out very bad : on every single item it's less good : S/N ration 15 db lower, harmonic distortion ten times higher, powerbandwith : starts 25 Hz higher, and so on. The only thing to it's advantache is the power output : 100W instead of 80W.

Does anybody have an opinion on Philips surround receivers ?
Should I buy a Marantz receiver instead (for a much higher price) ?