It can be frustrating because some of the small specialty shops have previous models of receivers they use for auditions and the newer Elites have supposedly made some changes so it would be nice to hear the actual model I would buy which would be either the VSX52tx or VSX54tx I can go to Tweeter but can!t audition it against an NAD T743 there. I have heard the T743 elsewhere. The speakers I heard it through are Definitive Technology and Paradigm. I brought a Diana Krall cd and it sounded excellent through both speaker brands but there were noticable differences between the 2 brands.
Def Tech has Power Monitor bookshelfs with powered subwoofers that are impressive also. I had never heard Def Tech before this store. Paradigms are also nice and some Polks are so I will probably choose between those 3 although I have not been excited about some of the Polk subs I have heard. If I get a big screen which is very tempting I might have to go smalleron speakers.
If your shops are using the vsx43,45 or newer don't worry about it. That was the series that Pioneer really changed their power supplies, dsps,dacs etc. The last three lines sound fundamentally the same.