It took a while but I have narrowed my selection down to these two receivers. The Nad T773 and the Marantz 8001. The Marantz dealer would not allow me to bring my speaker in to listen to them on that receiver and there are no refunds. So I was hoping I could get some help from the people here. I what a better sounding receiver for music and for surround sound (movies). I've decided that in the future I'm going to get a DVDO when they have HDMI solid and when (hoping) they come down in price. The speakers I have now are B&W 602's. Eventually they will be my rear speaker and I'll get 604's for the front. I might also look at the 700 series but that's a couple years away.
"The Marantz dealer would not allow me to bring my speaker in to listen to them on that receiver and there are no refunds"
Whoa, isn't that a bit harsh? I'd hope they have sharp prices then. Even so I think I'd rather buy of the 'net; in the UK "distance selling" laws guarantee 16 days right of return...
I can't tell you much except the NAD T7x3 range is oldish now,... well the T753 at least is from about 2004 and has just been replaced by the T754. Also, if you want a DVDO with HDMI, you'll need to know the T773 does't have HDMI!
The new T754 doesn't have HDMI either; it seems to be the old T753 updated with new dsp/dacs and converted over to lead free solder. I don't know if this implies anything much to any update to the rest of the series though. Actually, I think the only NAD amp / pre-amp with HDMI is the new masters series preamp.
I have a NAD T773 driving B&W DM602 mains and LCR60 center(I'm using a couple of small cheap yamahas for the rears, total of 5 speakers plus subwoofer). I used to run these speakers with a Yamaha RX-V1050 receiver for several years before I got the NAD a couple of months ago. Initially I had some humming until I grounded my turntable properly, then the humming disappeared. Stereo sounds fantastic. As for movies, I never drove my speakers very hard with the Yamaha - wife & kids are sensitive to loud noise. But the difference is that the NAD sounds better even when I'm not pushing the speakers hard. Sounds aren't distorted, and appear more natural and clear, even at low volumes. I'm very happy with my purchase.