Ok..

Heres my 2 cts ..

Marantz 7002 - no vdo upsaclin thou' - pros are its pretty musical as avrs go..

I partner tat wif a Rotel rb985 pwr amp [5 x 100wts] n it works my Tannoy lcr + svs sbs 01 surr in my 7.2 setup..

I guess wat u ll get is a myriad opinions who will vouch for one model tat they are usin.. I figure if u r gettin a pwr amp then its jus how much u r willin to spend for pre/pro function of ur avr - unfortunately de more hi end it is , the better the internals ( thou u might not need de xtra watts tat it brings)..
Bottom line prbbly is wat u urself feel is gud n so far all models listed are decent gear n u cant much go wrong wif any of them..

Cheers
D