Randy, whether a manufacturer calls its basic default impedance setting 8ohms or 6ohms doesn't matter; there's still no restriction of the voltage output from the power supply section, which as a consequence limits current and power(cutting the maximum roughly in half)to help avoid overheating and burning down the city.
As to ShopOnkyo, I've dealt with them and been completely satisfied. However, A4L is Onkyo authorized and wouldn't be likely to play games and risk losing the authorization. Also, their buyer satisfaction is quite high. I'd pick whichever had the better deal at the time(ShopOnkyo tends to have 10% off sales on some of the refurbs about once a month).
On the toroidal transformer point, I'll add that they have inherently less electromagnetic interference potential. If an amplifier is carefully designed(regardless of transformer type) and has inaudibly low noise(quite common these days), that advantage doesn't have any bottom-line significance.
Last edited by JohnK; 04/12/09 04:05 AM.
