I've finally decided to take the plunge and buy my first decent AV receiver to go along with my HDTV and the speakers I'm building. It seems that all the major brands are making 7.1 receivers in my price range that have reasonable feature sets that, while not entirely future-proof, should still be adequate in five years or so (HDMI in/out, 1080p capable, Dolby EX, etc.).
I'm partial to the Yamaha RX-V 661 or HTR 6090 over similar models from other companies, but that's more for sentimental reasons than anything else. (My Dad's mid-life crisis hi-fi set had a Yamaha receiver to go along with some massive Ohm speakers, and I find myself wanting to re-create the joy of listening to music on a solid system for the first time.) While I'm pretty sure this is the start of a horribly expensive habit and that I will end up buying a more expensive receiver in a few years, I would like whatever I buy now to be usable as a secondary system five or ten years from now. Do any of the major Japanese manufacturers have reliability issues that I should be aware of or have any of you had any horrible experiences that make you shy away from some companies? Any input is greatly appreciated.
I'll make sure to search the forums before I post more questions, but I sense that I'll be pestering you all quite a bit...
Thanks, Sam