The 1500 (as well as the Denon) are some of the best all around that we have set up. Nice thing about the Yamaha (and I think the Denon) is that it is spec'd to perform well even at 4 ohms (Cerwins are either at 4 or 6). Sony is not stable at 4 ohms. Primarily why it blew (secondly, "its a sony").

If price is an issue, the Yamaha RX-V650 is quite amazing for the price ($550). This pretty much has everything the 1500 does minus the THX and few watts of power. There are some other chrome gas pedals on the 1500 if you have bad acoustics (tile floors, lots of windows)

We just replaced a 620 with the 650 in our own HT just this past week. If the budget permitted we would opt for the 1500. You know, shoes for the kids etc. But I am very pleased with the upgrade. Major and striking improvement in soundfield quality.

Has the ypao as well for people that don't want to fuss with manual setup.

Don't fix the Sony, they do make decent anchors for a very light boat or buoey marker (if you add a few rocks).