I dont really know a lot about receivers and I am tring to upgrade my Pioneer 914. Should I get the Pioneer Elite VSX-74XVI with 140W or the Denon AVR-3806 with 120W? Is the Denon a better sounding unit with less watts or is the pioneer the same with more power? Thanks for any advice.
Denon makes some quality units. They have a history of making some real good high end audio equipment, but they also have a history of breaking too so I guess this is a trade off. My father has had a Denon receiver for a few years now and had no problems, and my uncle never had problems with any of his Denon equipment, but the user ratings for Denon tend to be real low for reliability (and real good for everything else usually).
I'm not too familiar with each unit, but personally I would go with the Denon. What I have always heard is their more expensive receivers are a much higher quality than their cheaper receivers. The unit that my father bought when it was just released was supposed to be a stereo receiver that had the same quality as the $1000 models but cost significantly less.