Actually I have a lot of experiance with the SR601 as I have installed several units recently to some very satisfied customers. I am not as big a fan of Onkyo personally as I am say Denon, Yamaha, Newcastle and Kenwood Sovereign but I have to say the Onkyo SR601 is one of the easiest to set up and calibrate without using any special equipment, however the downside is it is only 85 Watts and does not up convert video sources. At my showroom I consider the Onkyo SR601 as THE entry-level receiver.