Best Home Theater 5.1 Receiver??

Older Denon models, 3801,4801,5800/5801, all pretty inexpencive when bought used. If you dont need 6.1 or 7.1, you can stike an excellent bargain on thier older higher-end models.

Denon makes fantastic recievers for the price.

Marantz is a little bit more musical. No experience with Rotel though i hear it is pretty good

woah.. i hear an echo...

I have found the Rotel an excellent performer especially for the cash. The new 1067 7.1 reciever with component switching capability would be my choice over the marantz line. You could save a few bucks and spring for the 1068 processor and 1075 five channel amp and be in for a treat. The Rotel is very good musically and is dynamic on theatre. IMO. Sup slapmeister ?

Personally, honestly (from years of experience with most all lines of receivers, from Big Denon's, B&K's, and Marantz's, down to clean musical Outlaw's, Arcam, Nakamichi's, even cheap HK's or Yamaha's), especially with those speakers(a bit veiled and warm), many will work just fine for you. If you want best performance, you'll have to go more expensive. At that point, you'll might as well consdier Outlaw sepates for $1700 new! Otherwise, many of the $1000 range recievers will give similar performance for your aplication. I see nothing that's going to simply give you WAY BETTER PERFORMANCE!
Any differences would be suttle.
I could recommend the traditionally stronger Denon's and HK's to consider. Otherwise older flagship models used from the "bigger receiver lines"(Yam, Den, Marz, Whatever).
Still, again, I doubt you're finding anything special till you get into separates.
Good luck

I agree with Exertfluffer. With this in mind, get the Denon AVR-3805 (approx. $1,000 street price) and be done with for awhile. It's gotten excellent reviews (for a receiver) from most HiFi mags (US or UK). Even the most difficult reviewer gave it a warm review. It has all the bells and whistles for HT (for now) and is more than decent in stereo (edged over the new Arcam 300 in a recent group test in British mag FWIW).
Good luck.