Denon or Marantz? Home theater beginner.

to my ears, whatever differences exist between the japanese-branded mass market avrs aren't really cost-effective--all of $1000 or so msrp yamaha, denon, marantz, onkyo, sony etc. units do the same thing about as well--heck, marantz and denon are even owned by the same company. that said, i'd shop for price--you can get great deals on onkyo or marantz at accessories4less; amazon has some blowout prices on denon and yamaha. any of these would serve your purposes. any $$$ you save you can plow into better speakers--i really like paradigm studio series or def tech for movies, although you'll get numerous good recommendations.

for sound quality Cambridge Audio.... Pioneer elite for video upscaling
Dennis

I would go with the B& W speakers and for home theater recievers check out Onkyo and Denon for best value