Is there a "best" receiver??

+1 on what HTguru said. If you are happy with the performance of your receiver and it does everything you want and need it to do, then keep it & get a separate 5 channel amplifier of 200wpc @ 8ohms. This will allow all your speakers the power that they need to operate to their full potential now and in the future and the sonic improvement will simply astound you.

The term "best" is in the eye of the beholder. You just need to focus on what you want your receiver to do and to make sure it has all the bells and whistles that you want it to have.

Honestly there is no BEST receiver. Every bodies needs are slightly different. With a layout of the system , room size and needs I can spec the right receiver tailored to you. That would be the BEST receiver.
To comment on the SC-55 , it's a monster and an amazing receiver. It's light years ahead of your vsx91 which by the way was a great receiver in it's time. Over that receiver you will gain a ton of features , more power and way better sound quality. The SC models really outshine the older vsx models.
Looking at different brands is always a smart move. Compare features , power etc and especially price in your case since you have a budget cap. For that kind of money you will be very hard pressed to beat the SC-55 for any reason including needs. It has everything just about anyone with the speaker packaged you listed would ever need.

Good luck and happy hunting.

For the money you could buy a used HT processor and a power amp. Separates will take you to the next level

You could buy a used integra 9.9 for $700 and a smoking hot amp

McIntosh pre/pro is probably the best you can get and ones with their integrated amp. Most the ones listed here are excellent:

http://www.electronichouse.com/slideshow/category/6607/1011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n7TIscmorI

mantis wrote: »

I don't believe that to be true. I have Installed many SC models with ICE amps and never had any failures. Now HDMI with Lightning is another story. No receiver on the market today can take a surge , HDMI boards go first and seems to be the receivers Surge protector. We have had a few receivers over the last few years that got hit in the HDMI.
No ICE failures at all. Now if I was to buy one of the other , hands down I'd go for a SC-57 model. It's completely loaded with all the latest features and sounds the same as the SC-37. Hardly no difference at all.

This is true and it's pretty interesting how surges travel through HDMI...

If you plugged the reciever and bluray player into a surge protector it will protect each unit from surges on the AC power line, but it will not protect either unit from an induced transient in the ground loop. If the HDMI completes a loop, you will be susceptible to lightning induced transient voltages. You may also be susceptible to equipment damage should one of the units short hot to safety ground, as this could raise the safety ground voltage momentarily at the bad unit. Quite honestly, both are extremely low chance occurences, so you may go 10 or 20 decades before something happens.

Connect everything up the way you want and don't worry. If you insist, listen very carefully to see if anything causes clicks or spikes, or any noise as a result of lights, AC, oil burner, whatever..if you get those kind of noises, then you indeed have a loop.

Surge protectors don't protect HDMI ground loops, I do not believe they can contend with the HDMI formed loop, as surge protectors cannot interrupt the ground integrity. This can make the HDMI in and out susceptible to transient damage. Again, I'd think this a low probability thing, just listen for pops and clicks which would indicate coupling to external noises.

To prevent a loop you should have seperate dedicated circuits, seperate outlets, with seperate dedicated circuit breakers all on the same phase. Have a electrician run conduit with single conductor hots and neutrals...if he does that, he can run one honkin grounding conductor to cover all three circuits, tie all grounds at the outlet group to this one ground, and you will never have a ground loop again. If he is not allowed (code may vary town to town), have the romex either twisted together, or stapled together the entire length, and have him run the romexes so that all are together to the main set where one ends, then the two remaining go to the next location where the second ends, then the last goes to the final location. You make sure that if you run any signal cables from one location to another, that you have it follow very closely, the romex in the wall..(external to the wall of course, just close.)