Unfortunately Sushi, in all the reviews I sifted through on Anthem's website, not one independently tested the MCA 5's output (pretty shoddy reviewing in my books). Fortunately, S.F. does seem to be pretty forthcoming about their specs. For example, they do publish output for all channels driven - 170watts @ 8ohm all channels driven vs. 200watts @ 8ohm 1channel driven. Maybe a call to S.F. is in order.
FHW, you do make a good point that not buying the Sherbourn may lead to a wicked case of upgraditis (or buyer's remorse whatever you want to call it). I'm pretty good at not falling for that though and I think I'd be happy with either amp. I just want to make sure I end up with the right one for my setup. As you said, saving $1000 could end up costing me more down the road. I just need to figure out whether the cost/performance ration justifies the extra G-note.
