Greg, if you studied the independent lab report on the Onkyo which was linked and the similar reports there on the Pioneer units, you'd "see"(literally)the basis for the conclusion.

Of course, it was you who started this present "discussion" by resurrecting a 12-year old thread. Hence, the comment about your apparent excessive concern in this area.

Ahh, its nice to be back listening to you folks again, its been a while since my last visit.
I drive all my Axioms (front stage M80s and VP180) with a NAD T785HD and haven't ran into any issues at all. This is in a fairly large space and I can crank it to ear bleed levels...the NAD is more then capable.

I use the m80s as two channel speakers and have them connected to two Quad 909s and a Quad 99 pre.

I've used two receivers to drive my M80s as a test; the crappy RCA (rated 8 ohm) one "died" in 10 minutes while the Yamaha (rated 6 ohm) "passed out" after 30 minutes or so. This was done at very loud levels with party music.
I had the M80's running at the same levels for a few hours on my 4 ohm rated Emotiva monoblocks without any issues whatsoever.
I guess it all depends what are looking for; for every day use most receivers should work.