I was silly when I bought mine... not in the way where I now have buyer's remorse... except for the near-lemon, that is.
But I had always 'known' Marantz to be a really good company that was expensive and sounded amazing. When I realized I could actually attain one, I was stoked, and thus budgeted for the SR5012. That was it... my ticket to the big leagues!
Then the mark-downs started back in Summer, and I could get the 6012 for 899. And it was on.
The reviews I read didn't give me any reason to not do it.
Knowing what I know now, I might have been better served by the Denon considering I'm not the user who is taking advantage of, or even needs, the differences between them.
My main curiosity now is Anthem. More expensive, but people really seem to like their room correction. I'm not looking to trade up, please don't misunderstand, just in that situation where I realize I didn't actually do all my normal research because I 'knew' Marantz meant 'quality.'
In the future, if I can afford it when upgrade time arrives, I might consider separates. But the word on the new Yammies is kinda nice and I might be willing to overcome my bias against them if they continue on that path. Nothing major against Onkyo, either... just the old HTIB that I'm still running from.
Cheers!