Secrets have just published a genuinely interesting article about what it takes to make a good AV receiver: AVR - Audio Video Receiver - Build Quality: Part I - Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity Its written by Dr David A. Rich, who's written some brilliant articles before that are well worth looking out. He's very well informed. I know this is the processors section, and the article says receiver..... I did think about posting this in the AV Amps & Receivers section, but I think this is far too good for people that compare feature count, and this is probably where the real interest is. More importantly, when the article comes to the subject of power amplifiers, it all dries up, so all the discussion is only relevant to processors anyway. Its a great read. Nick