Like the vast majority of this equipment nowadays, it is manufactured in totality or at least the innards at a minimum, are from China. I think one would also have to take in to account that Crown is part of the JBL/Harmon conglomerate so there is a long history there. Yamaha, for example has a separate professional division with power amp models, however, it would be interesting to know whether or not there is any direct or indirect design connection between these units and their AVRs because, unlike the Crown stuff, their power amps certainly aren't cheap.
As an old guitar player myself, like Bob, my only concern would be in using such equipment in an A/V application, is how would the noise floor compare to a quality A/V amp? Used in a professional/live application, realistically, noise nor extended frequency range is of much importance especially when cranked up. One is certainly not going to connect their system to a Hi-Watt stack and expect it to sound any good.
Having said all that, I have never tried one, so in all honesty, I wouldn't know until I connected one to hear if there is any meaningful difference and how it would compare to electronics designed specifically for A/V use.
