Imho, higher end Yamahas sound great with the RX series. I've never heard the RX play as good with other AVR brands.
Really? Actually before I decided to buy the amp that I have now, I narrowed down my choices between a Yamaha RXV-1065 and a Marantz SR-7002. Eventually, I went with the Marantz because according to one of the reviews I've read, and I quote
"Keep in mind most review publications don’t do continuous power measurements and they usually publish power measurements into clipping at 1% THD + N. Our measurements are very conservative and it is clear that the 110wpc power rating of this receiver is greatly understated as Marantz is delivering MUCH more than specified.". Since I am a loudness junkie, anyone can see that the choice is pretty obvious.
I am quite satisfied with the performance of SR-7002 but there were times that it was coughing up blood (it seemed like the source material had a cut between scenes and the RX6s are having an abrupt disruption of signals, like a broken pop). My suspicion tells me that the capacitors are running out of reserved power. I had the Low pass filter set to 80 Hz so that the RXFX, which are rated at 60 Hz - 35 kHz, 80 watts, wouldn't have a hard time squeezing out frequencies lower than that.
Do you think, I made a mistake by choosing the Marantz?