Your assumption that stereo receivers don't sound as good may be a mistake. I think most of the stereo receivers mentioned from Onkyo, Denon, Marantz and H/K will sound just fine. For floorstanders though, you'll want to go with a more powerful one, ie; most of them have a 50w and a 100w, so you'd want the 100w model.
If you can also live without FM and can use only analog (which is made easy when doing stereo only), you might consider an integrated amplifier. This is the easiest way to get great 2ch sound and will definitely outperform a stereo receiver and even most surround receivers in their price range.
I previously had a Marantz PM7000 - these can be picked up used for $300 and they are very solid performers. I had a problem with mine recently, but it was still under the standard 3 year warranty. When I took it in, the shop just offered to allow me to pay the difference and upgrade to the latest model, the 7200. This guy is even a bit better than the 7000 was. There is a pretty good used market for integrateds too, many excellent offerings in the $300-400 range from NAD (C320BEE) and Marantz can be found regularly.
www.audiogon.com
New, you might take a look at Cambridge Audio. They have 2 integrateds, the 340A and 540A that are both under $400.
