Looking for Recommendation for AVR

steve: i personally don't hear a ton of difference between the mass market avrs--i've had good luck with pioneer elite and yamaha; others will recommend denon or marantz; i've heard people complain about onkyo's reliability. if you look at accessories4less, they have great prices (up to 50% off) on avrs--you can find one for $300-400 that has all the bells and whistles.

Accessories4less.com is a good source for discounted AVRs.  I'd recommend Yamaha because they sound good but also seem to be a step up in reliability relative to most others.  If you don't need all the absolute latest bells n whistles, you can save some $$$ buying the previous generation models like this...
https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/yamrxa1070bl/yamaha-rx-a1070-7.2-ch-x-110-watts-a...

Yamahas dont have have the most robust power supplies out there though, and I'm sure your Aerial center needs some juice.  But since you won't be using all the AVR's amp channels I thought it could still be fine and you may even be able to biamp your center. 

But here's a Marantz that's got a beefier power supply and is even cheaper...
https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/marsr5012/marantz-sr5012-7.2-ch-x-100-watts-a/v-r...

My problem with Marantz (and Denon) is that last year they were bought by a private equity firm, and their motivation is usually to cut costs so I'd be concerned about parts quality and reliability.  

These two i recommended are probably at the absolute minimum for each brand to meet your needs, but they're still well below your max budget so you might want to move up the lines as you'll get more power and still be within your budget. 

All this said, what I'd do would be to buy a used Anthem MRX710.  To me, it's a cut above these others in parts, build, and sound quality, they're reliable, and they have what many feel is a superior and proprietary room/speaker EQ system.  Here's a nice demo unit that's in your price range and probably still comes with full factory warranty.  This is absolutely what I'd do if it has all the features you need...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/173781545348?ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F7...

Hope this helps, and best of luck in your search. 

Hi - thanks for your reply - it was very informative. 
The current version for Anthem is MRX720.
Do you know what the 720 gives you over the 710.
Also - if I am going with only traditional surround with 5 speakers can i still get a 7 speaker system ? And if I am going 5 five speakers (2 fronts, center, and 2 backs) does it make sense for me to go with MRX 5 series ?

Thanks,
Steve