Ok... that's an opinion. But still I wonder how big the difference in sound quality is going to be with a high-end receiver. What's for sure is that, the higher you go in price, the smaller the gain in soundquality and for me, not being a home-theater nut (not yet at least) low to mid end will be just fine. This Philips receiver is reasonably priced (450 Euro, which is about the same in dollars) and if Daniel signals it's arrival in his CES report, it can't be all that bad, can it? Nevertheless Jake, thanks for your advice on checking out Kenwood, I will certainly do that.