this one?
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/receivers/RXV2500.htm
or this one?
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=TX-SR702&class=Receiver&p=i
tough choice…
advice?
If they have a red one then that’s what I’d buy.
sorry, no red. 
maybe this forum is not the ideal place to ask such questions…but…you never know…
Try the hardware forum at Hydrogen Audio.
Buy the one on the bottom. All the buttons and dials are proportionally sized (most of them the same!) and they are all neatly organized, like little soldiers all in a row, and it is a foxacious black with a nifty blue edge on that dial to the right. It will be as functionally correct inside as it is outside.
The one on top is clearly the product of a disorganized mind. The dials are all differing sizes, like they tried to use up spare parts, and they’re just all over the place. It’s also silver. Reminds me of a guy I dated once. He had a Corvette and a stereo that was silver, and not much else that did any good.
Yup, you want the black one.
foxacious? Wow, that new avatar has worked wonders.
Dude, what are you looking at that solid state junk for? Buy yourself a good tube amp and get down with those glorious even ordered harmonics bro! 
Loren
Onkyo, definitely. They are very solidly built and have an excellent reputation among the cognoscenti (one of which I am not) and you are not paying for the Yahaha name. I have an Onkyo tuner, TX-SR501, and it has a real heft due to the shielding and the heavy duty power supply. It is my understanding that the Onkyo is good enough to use as a core for an extensive system but it suits my purposes as it stands. It ain’t “feature rich”, but as far as I am concerned the features it lacks are just more dials and lights to amuse the simple. I bought mine a couple of years ago and could find nothing close to it for the price. Caveat: I am not an audio/technophile - I just did quite a bit of shopping before going for the Onkyo.
Also, the classic black finish is subtle yet impressive - it bespeaks someone for whom the sound of a sound system is the heart of its value.
IMHO, YMMV, etc., etc., etc.
Roger
I think you should buy the pretty one
I have an older Onkyo that just plain old works and has worked for a long time. I blew out my speakers AR-3s tweaters, so I am using cheaper speakers. Put your big money in speakers, skimp on reciever/amplifier if needed.
Loren, i’ve been on the home-cinema, dolby stereo/prologic/digital/thx band-wagon since the very start! And that is where i shall stay.
My first thought (not knowing anything much about such things) was to buy the shiney one! Is this a female thing… this sort of reply based on soley on visual review? Mmmmmm…
(BTW, good luck on the future purchase there Amar.)
Sara
Fine (if movies are your thing), but I still say skip the rice amps and buy yerself a McIntosh Solid State, if you insist on having all that digital malarkey 
Loren
Yamaha makes terrific recorders, so I’d imagine their audio equipment is good too… 
Come to think of it, I have been feeling less . . . constrained . . .
I would advise that you purchase neither one right now. A better choice will be available next year. I have a Sony receiver that I can’t figure out how to use properly. My brother is a Phi Beta Kappa, and the manual for his new receiver is more than he can handle. I used to build stereo amplifiers from kits with point-to-point wiring, but that was 1960. I memorized the Allied Radio Catalogue in earlier years, but now I have no clue.
Hey Loren, do you wear one of those ‘Back to Mono’ badges too?
Seriously, I wouldn’t use any kind of guitar amp but a tube amp.
I always go to epinions.com to see if there are customer reviews before buying electronics. I’ve picked up some good advice from time to time.
Tony
Yeah, and you can probably ride your amp out to the parts store and back if you blow a speaker
Loren