John, what I struggle with with your assertions is the fairly common report of people adding outboard amps of higher power than their receivers and saying that their speakers now have more oomph or that they're fuller. I fully understand the volume matching aspect of it and am a strong believe in the power of the placebo effect, but the reports are pretty common.
I would really like to see a dbt between a fairly low power but respectable receiver (say a midrange Denon, a 2311 or the like) and the same receiver with a big honking amp (say an Axiom A1500 or some big Krells) and the same receiver with a smallish amp (say an Emotiva UPA-2 or 5).
This would give us far more real world data than a _SINGLE_ article--and need I remind you of the difficulties of supporting oneself with a single scientific article on a subject, particularly when that single article flies in the face of other knowledge?
It would also be of more practical use to those of us who are not single guys with good jobs and more disposable income than we know what to do with.
So it boils down to this for me:
1. Does adding an amp to an already adequate receiver make a difference, and if so, how much does one have to spend in order for that amp TO make a difference?
2. Is the power rating relevant in such a discussion?
3. At what volume does the difference appear?
