I've owned both Yamaha and Marantz receivers in the past and can say that for music Marantz does a much better job. In my opinion, Yamaha adds too many bells and whistles rather than focus on the sound quality.
Yamaha or marantz
looking for a $4-500 universal(new or used). Anyone have opinions about the Yamaha 1500 or the Marantz 6400/6500? There seems to be plenty of opinions on the Pioneers, Denons, etc. but not much about these two. The owner of a good audio store told me he would take the 6500 over the Denon 2200.