looking for a great deal, can be one or two generations behind.

So my Sony ES reciever went to heck last weekend. It was 10 years old so I am not too ticked but I do need to replace it. As luck would have it i don't have the money to buy what I really want and am forced to buy what I can get that will get the job done. With this all said I can get a generation or two old, probably will search fleabay or amazon.

I have a complete set of B&W FPM speakers. I listened to them on an Integra reciever and they sounded great. Sadly my old Sony didn't do much for them. I am looking to make them really sound good.

What is the current wisdom on great buy recievers?

criteria.

1. Hastle free. I don't want any funky HDMI problems where I have to power cycle the whole system.
2. See #1
3. Must be a great sounding reciever. I am thinking HK, Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon, etc. Marantz and NAD would be cool too but I suspect they will be pricey.
4. power requirements are hard to define. I would like around the 100 watts per channel but I know the HKs and Marantz recievers spec much lower but still have a ton of power.
5. Analog Up conversion (preferable the Furojita chip). and Source Upconversion (where you can have svid in and hdmi out).
6. Some type of auto setup would be cool, Audisy or something similar.
7. I really only need 5.1 but that is hard to find in a modern reciever so 7.1 or 7.2 is ok too.

I am hoping around $3 to $4 hundred used/refurb, fleabay, etc.

No one has mentioned the older Harman Kardon 354 and 254 series receivers? Or did they have just too many issues with the HDMI. Last I read (about 2 years ago or so) they had some issues that may have been cleared up with some firmware upgrades... maybe?

I looked at those, and I must say the 145wat per channel is really awesome. They are however a bit outside my range. I can not find them for anything less that 550 used but refurb or "new" is 700 or more.

Also i am trying to weigh all my options.

Also my speakers (http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/displa...rid=1283&sc=ht) say they are up to 120watts, won't 145watts be too much? I see what you mean about them being inefficient 88db is NOT that good.

I am glad you mentioned this, I went there and kept getting 569 and was wondering what I was doing wrong... I was starting to wonder if I should buy a receiver because if I wasn't smart enough to figure out how much it cost I certantly couldn't figure out how to use it.

In the end I went for the Marantz 5003 from A4L for $370. 90 watts per channel should be enough and I eventually decided that At that price I can buy the receiver I really want down the road and religate this to the basement.

Thanks to all who chipped in, I know these types of threads get tedious. I am happy, I have always wanted to own a Marantz (Adcom and NAD were also on my list) and now I do. I have owned two Sony ES receivers (the 1099 and the v444 es models) and some other odds and ends ones (TEAK, Sherwood, etc). I don't go through them often because they never break, mostly. I expect the sound quality to be great with the Marantz and am happy to finally join the HDMI world.