This is what I don't understand, John.
If I am listening at 1W/channel nominal, I still have about 20dB of headroom left with my 90W/channel amp. I've measured 88dB in my room at 1W/channel...so it's a comfortably loud SPL. Why would I ever want more?
Now I admit, as I've said before, those who listen to orchestras are in a completely different league. In order for me to appreciate classical and the like, I need to turn my gain wayyyyy up!. If I listened to this kind of stuff on a regular basis, I wouldn't think twice about buying an A1400. I don't know how JohnK can live without one. Unless of course he's just listening to it at a very low level as background music. But when I listen to music, I want to enjoy it and hence I've been known to turn it up from an eighth of a watt to a half watt
.
I'm not sure about your point regarding heat and RF interference. After all, there's heat and RF interference in a power amp although by the time the signal hits the power amp it is greater in magnitude and therefore the signal to noise ratio is much greater. But all of these integrated receivers have S/N ratios that are ridiculously high...much higher than the theoretical 30dB limit of human hearing...and extremely low THD+N figures.
