Originally Posted by
sonic icons
I think you should consider another Denon AVR - the first model in their lineup with preamp outs. This also has better internal amps than their entry-level models. If budget is an important consideration, you are more likely to find a great deal on a used Denon than some other brands mentioned here, because it's closer to a mass-market brand (more are produced and sold). The specific models I'm suggesting are X3300W, X3400H, X3500H, X3600H, X3700H. These are five successive model years, 2016 through 2020. Changes in features across these five model years are small.
(note: my list starts with X3300W because the X3300W is the first "3" series Denon AVR with Audyssey MultEQ XT32, the best version of the Audyssey room correction software. The X3300W and later also include the capability to run Audyssey from a smartphone or tablet via a $20 "app", which adds a few features not present in the Audyssey software built into the AVR.)