All channels driven is neither a legal nor a real-world home usage requirement for the power rating, since all the channels aren't called upon to output full power simultaneously on real program material.
This is what I have been wondering about the most in terms of headroom, because the promo (AL video on You Tube?) I saw for the A1400-8 seemed the same as the latest Emotiva rap; both eschewed the monoblock model (e.g,. MPS-2 in Emotiva's case) in favor of a high power amp with a massive power supply that could provide maximum power to the one or two channels that need it most to facilitate HT or front speaker content and support dynamic peaks. I am now leaning toward Outlaw (rather than XPA1s, anticipating I will give up on the XPA2) due to budget yet am trying to decide just how many watts and whether the statements regarding a unitary high wattage A/B amp with minimal cross talk versus a couple of powerful monoblocks will be more satisfactory, given that HT is the priority and I have a pretty big room to fill.
