I get the feeling that the products company's sell in europe vs the U.S. differ in quality & design even though the product has the same model number. I don't know much about what philips offers in europe, but I've heard it's a pretty big brand. In the U.S. I think it's considered a pretty minor brand. In much the same way that Hitachi is huge in Japan, but just another japanese brand here.
I rarely see the philips brand name on receivers here and when I do, it's usually on very low end gear. Most of the time its a home-theater-in-a-box system that seems to be meant as an add on accessory for their line of Philips/Magnavox television sets. If I were to judge philips on these products I probably would agree with Jake, although I've never actually listened to one. But they really don't look like they'd be worth my time.
I understand that philips owns marantz. It may be that the marantz equipment will integrate well with your philips gear. I've noticed that technics, panasonic and quazar equipment can use the same unified remote produced by the company.
US$450 would give you alot of options. I've read some really great reviews of the Sony STR-DB 830, Onkyo 575, Kenwood 309 & Pioneer 608. I think they're all in that price range. At least they are in the US.
Anyway, the reason I responded to your post was to let you know that I think most americans have a narrow view of philips receivers. They're not really well marketed here.
