very basic home theatre system for the occasional movie. middle of the range ceiling mounted speakers, and music streaming via bluetooth occasionally.

Onkyo are on the brink of not existing... they got rid of 30% of their staff globally (50% of their execs) and just axed Onkyo / Pioneer Corp in the USA. So the debate is - will they be around in the near future?

A very much cursory look shows that the Onkyo doesn't have 5 way binding posts on the centre / rears... a small saving at the factory, but one that Onkyo clearly felt the need to cut.

thanks, also found a Denon AVR-X550BT ... 

That's the one with all-push in speaker terminals eh?

There seems to have been a massive price rise in these recently... only one retailer seems to be running with a semi-good deal (AV World).

I think price increase may be across the board with Denon? Odd, because the dollar has made a slight rebound as of late.

Dunnersfella:

That's the one with all-push in speaker terminals eh?

There seems to have been a massive price rise in these recently... only one retailer seems to be running with a semi-good deal (AV World).

I think price increase may be across the board with Denon? Odd, because the dollar has made a slight rebound as of late.

For $999 you're almost getting a networked RXV485 from Yamaha.

They sold for as low $399 when Online hifi sold them. So that should give you an idea what they have sold for previously... the new RRP is a work of spreadsheet fiction.

so the only thing separating them seems to be the binding posts ...

if a receiver has apple airplay 2 ... can you stream video from an iphone? what about screensharing (video)?

apparently the Denon and Onkyo has "analog" amps inside for each channel ... Yamaha makes no mention ...

is that important?

Airplay 2 in a receiver is referring to audio only streaming, no AVR's stream video over the network.

Regarding analogue amps..

Basically, all the amps you're looking at are Class A/B (not Class D - digital).

The marketing of 'analogue amps' is just how their copywriter decided to portray their bog-standard use of amplification within their AVR's.

If you're outside of Auckland, get your hands on an AVR, play with the remote control / menu and see if you like it.