I go to home theater forum on occation, but it is down for some reason on a frequent basis.....try this one:
http://www.digitaltheater.com/cfb/index.cfm/CFB/1.cfm
Also, you can forget about THX certification in your price range.....you would have to quadruple your price range to get into that....its not really important anyway. Just do much research about anything you want to buy, and you should be happy with what you get.
Sorry I can't be much help, but I haven't shopped for recievers in over a year. However, that forum should be able to point you in the right direction.