What drew you to your AV Receiver?

[mpdhrd]

I wanted to start a thread asking what drew you to your particular Receiver. With all the different brands/models/features/price ranges, why did you pick the receiver that you picked. I'll start with mine, Onkyo TX-SR875s. First, I owned an Onkyo before (TX-DS575x) and I found it to be reliable, solid, loud and clean. It was a 70wpc 5.1 system and as I was upgrading my HT piece by piece, I decided I wanted to go bigger and more powerful. I stuck with Onkyo and the 875 was 140wpc, 7.1 and this (being 2 models ago from the current line) was among the first to offer Dolby HD and DTS HD. Looks-wise I chose the silver model to go along with my silver Onkyo DV-SP405 dvd player because I thought silver was a more mature look and cleaner and the other manufacturers simply dont have silver. At the time this model was $1600 msrp and I was able to get a local store to match an online sale for $1100 and that sealed the deal for me. I didnt really consider any other brand (Denon, Yamaha, Pioneer, Sony) because I liked Onkyo's sound and when comparing specs it seemed I could get more for the buck (especially after the sale).

So what drew you to your receiver? If I get a good response from this thread I might start a similar one for speakers, dvd/BR players, etc. Thanks.

Matt