If you REALLY want the best reciever... throw in B&K, Rotel, NAD and brands like that. I am not sure if that is what you are after though. These will STOMP anything that you have mentioned, but come at a price of entry level seperates.
Go to a ht store and listen to a few different recievers use the same speakers with each reciever and try to get decibal output as close as you can then decide. If you can't tell the difference go with the cheapest one with the features you want. If you can tell a difference look at that recievers brand name entire line and see which one has all the features you want and get that one. It's all up to what you hear. If you can't go and listen to them right next to each other just pick one with all the features you want in your price range and I'm sure you will be happy with it, all the reciever's mentioned so far are respectable brands and are known for quality products.