First off, I have to say that I'm new to home theater in general so please forgive any ignorance on my part.
I'm looking to buy a 6.1 reciever for around $300 USD and I don't know much about what's out there. I know that Best Buy and the like doesn't normally carry high end stuff, but I also hate having a salesman at a high end shop trying to wrap up the sale as fast as he can.
So what can $300 get me these days? What do the different brands have to offer as far as features and reliability compared to sound and quality? I'll be mainly using it for movies, but I also wants my music to sound good too. Oh, links are much appreciated.