I work for a dealer and we carry sony es and yamaha!
we have both set up in the same room and the Yamaha kicks the sony like a bad step child!
Both come with the worst remotes on the planet but the Yam is leaps and bounds better!
I think you should look at the MARANTZ sr-8000 or the SR-7000 both in the same price range and both kick the snot out of the SONY es and THE YAMAHA. The SR-8000 comes with a pretty cool remote too!