What is the warmest receiver...

I have to say, I almost never listen to receivers, but the other day speakers I was interested in were hooked up to a harmon Kardon: not only is the new line beautiful (blue back-lighting through black acrylic and big chrome knob, and big digital display), I was surprised at how good it sounded: smooth, detailed, punchy and great timing. I have no idea how it compares to the other brands...and FM does not suck, at least in my neck of the woods: free music!

I guess if you compare FM radio to CD's, DVD-A, SACD, or LP's, then Ya, it's crap. But I don't know any one how sits down and does some critical listening to FM radio like they would with the other forms of music. I personely use FM radio as back round noise like when I'm working in the yard or garage, driving from point A to point B. I just don't expect much out of FM radio so I'm never disappointed, besides, it's still the cheapest way to hear new music before you go out and lay down your hard earned cash for a CD or LP, and whats wrong with Bose 901's? ( that a joke for those who don't have a sence of humor.)

I guess those who won't listen to radio in their cars also won't listen to it in their yards or the beach. And forget about ipods and other mp3 players with their compressed sound. At some point it's not about the music anymore if you can only listen to perfectly reproduced cd/sacd and vinyl. FM is a great way to discover new musicians and a good receiver, or better yet, a nice vintage tuner can provide some very decent backround music when your casually listening around the house.

And yes, I love my itrip too so my 6 cd changer in the car becomes a 500 cd changer.

Tony buddy, it's not (just) about the quality of the sound, rather the drivel that is produced nowadays (American Idol? Hah!!!).

I have recently auditioned all on your list plus the NAD742. They were all runners up to the Rotel and NAD with the NAD being the warmest. HK came in third with the other Japanese makers sounding very bright. If you are looking for warmth for under B&K prices, I would say the NAD. I ended up with a HK AVR330 just because it was a deal I couldn’t refuse. I heard the Arcam AVR200 has a similar sound as the NAD.