6th Ave etc.
I was in one of the 6th Ave. stores in NJ just yesterday, and I received excellent service from a sales guy who was not at all the usual over-opinionated, underinformed salesy type. He was quite knowledgeable, not pushy, took a lot of time with me...that's my only experience with them, but thought I'd chime in.
Re the particular receiver you're considering: why not go with Integra DTR-4.5? Take a look at what you get there for $550...pretty great. It's their entry level unit, but it's pretty feature-rich and sounds great.
--Josh