I think Pioneer makes a good AVR, the owners seem to be happy. I think their new digital amp lines are nice too, only big complaints from some are MCACC. Thats what keeps me in Marantz, Denon and Onkyo: Audyssey.
I had Jeff Meier come in and do my audio. I actually prefer the result from Audyssey MultiEQ XT over it, so I can only imagine what XT 32 does. I would never say Audyssey is perfect, but if you set your speakers up right, have a good AVR, and set the AVR up properly after Audyssey runs, it does a fine job.