Recommend me a stereo receiver/tuner/amplifier

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

The old one has vanished in a haze of grey, sort of ozone-y smelling smoke

So I went browsing today for receivers at a few different places. The two likelies I came back with are the Yamaha 657 and the Sony STRDE698.

The Yamaha is $600, taxes in, at the retailer. The Sony is $400, taxes in. Both seem fundamentally similar to me, but then, I'm no expert. Any experts around who can tell me whether the Yamaha is worth the extra 2 C's? Or failing that, who can recommend me a better receiver for roughly the same $?

Background - I will be using the thing to run my DVD, CD changer and television. I like the 7 channels and more flexibility (i.e. more inputs for future devices) is better.

I am not an audiophile.

I am not a heavy user of any of the components - but I would like them to sound nice.

The sony

The yamaha

[SlowwHand]

Good to see some things stay the same.

DO NOT get Sony. Yamaha, good stuff.

Receivers : Harman Kardon HK3480
Sherwood RX-4105


Try this site.

http://www.rated-top-ten.com/buy/shop01-Electronics.html?PHPSESSID=a852cbfb1fae10f0c4afb1adee853b2e

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

SH: I saw your anti-Sony thread. Good points made, particularly relevant to those of us who have already paid for our "stolen" music (in the form of levies added to the cost of blank disks and MP3 players).

I'll look at the link, thanks.

[Verto]

Sony, simply because I like how they laid out their product page.

[SlowwHand]

Ming will love you.

[Verto]

Why should I buy a product when their features and specs are not as easy to read? Same goes for general website layout, etc.

[SlowwHand]

Ming is in advertising is why I say that.