Onkyo, Denon and Yamaha all have a slightly different sound when the internal eq is set to flat, or using Pure Direct. I found the Denon's were in the middle of the bunch. Onkyo seemed very flat, while Yamaha had the best punch and crisp highs. All the receivers can be tuned to sound the same, but out of the box, they are slightly different. I own both Yamaha and Denon, and helped a relative set up his Onkyo 901. They are all great units. $800 is a perfect budget for either the 901, the 3805 or 2500. No bad choice there.