Temporary Proceed replacement


Greetings to all
My dilemma (#1) is that my Proceed AVP finally shot craps. It had been acting up for some time with 1 channel in zone 2 going out and now all channels went out completely. As you know, the AVP was a great piece for music & cinema. My 2nd dilima is that my budget has taken a big hit along with the economy, and kids in college. So, Im looking at replacing the proceed with a receiver in the 1K range until my financial resources stabilize.

Right now, Im leaning towards a Marantz SR 6003 or 6004. What are the differences between these models and is the new upgrade worth the price difference? What are your opinions about the musicality of the pre-amp sections of the Marantz line? What about the DAC's too? I would like to go with HDMI for this unit rather than buy a used pre-amp that sounds great but doesn't have HDMI for my home theater set up. Any other suggestions in the 1K range that I may not have considered?

My current system is the (dead) Proceed AVP into an Active Linn 5140 (5.1) system. Linn Karik fed digitally into the Proceed and a Pioneer Blue Ray player for HT. My philosophy is to keep the music sound great and the Home theater sound will be a given. Thoughts & suggestions?
mikerowave
I have the new SR6004, the big change is the addition of the RX101 Bluetooth receiver, which is super cool for streaming audio from your computer or iPohne/Crackberry and does sound good, not to the level of the AVP. You will have trouble finding something at that price point to equal the sound you are used to.

I am curious why you are looking into a receiver when you already have amps (I used to use a fully active Linn AV51 system too)
Just went down the same road as my good old Aragon took a dive. After looking at several older used pieces I found that I could get the Integra DHC 9.9 for a tad over the magic $1K price. It has every new feature you can think of and I couldn't find a bad review. Take a look at it, really nice.
Thanks KennyT. The reason Im looking at receivers is financial as well as having a use for it later. I am wanting to do a full on Home theater in a different room later on and will look at a suitable replacement pre-amp then. The receiver will reside in the family room with the Panny Plasma when Im ready to with a projection system in a dedicated HT/listening room.