Well I am not really replacing my Yamaha. I will keep it in our family room as the nucleus of my secondary system. However, I am also putting together a system I will use in a dedicated HT I am going to put on the third floor of our house. Actually I like my Yamaha and I am satisfied with its performance. But joining it with a power amp, really made it sing. Quite a few people I know use their receivers as a pre/pro. In reference to the 1400, you can connect a power amp to it and I am sure it will perform well, but the big question is do you really need the extra power. If you have a large room or speakers that require a lot of power by all means go for it. But if you do not really need it why bother? Take that money and buy a universal DVD player or whatever else floats your HT boat.