Chris, I do think you are reading to much into this, but if you have your heart set on seperates, then by all means go for it... I've used just 2 different Denon's throught the years since I got my Axioms and they sound great, play as loud as anyone would care to listen. Most likely if you did a true blind A/B test you would not see any difference, no matter how good you think your ears are.
With that said, I have also used many seperates, Emotiva (which personally would never own againn), Odyssey (one of my favorites), and Outlaw (currently own) and will most likely be my last amp.
The Axiom amps look attractive, but for the price tag I can't afford to get the same power for 7 channels compared to my Outlaw, and will put this A/B badboy up against them any day.
I would consider looking at their newly released pre and amps, and not focus on Emo, but that is just my history opinion. Or, she get a nice AVR.
