Ok, well while the battle rages on as to whether or not today's AVR's reach their claimed 120, 135 or 150 watts x 7 or not, let me quietly point out that the M80's (even the QS8's for that matter) are rated to handle 400 watts. And thus, as I've stated many times, for those of you who enjoy the way a reciever powers your system and want not to explore the upper regions of their capabilities, then more power to you (or should I say less? Oh never mind).

However, there are those who like a bit 'more', and that's where separates can take you, to the land of 'more'. And unlike the, "can you hear differences in amplifiers" debate, there is no arguement as far as power goes. More power = higher volume. We can go round and round about how loud a Denon will play M80's (I have a Denon, and yes it plays loud), but a good separate amp will play them louder, end of story. Not twice as loud mind you, no one here is claiming that. The differences in volume levels are not enough to convince most AVR users to make the switch, that's fine. But there are differences, and human nature has always driven some to explore the absolute furthest boundaries out there (that's how man made it to the moon. Was going to the moon practical in any way? Nah, we just wanted to see if we could actually do it).

People who invest in separate's are people who want the ability to squeeze the absolute most out of their system even if they rarely ever need/use it. To them it's not about whether or not a Denon can push an M80 to acceptable levels of performance. To them driving a 400 watt M80 with a 200 watt amp is like driving an 800 hp Ferrari Enzo around with a gas peddle that only goes half way to the floor. "400 hp is more power then anyone in their right ming would ever NEED". Yeah, but some still want access to the full 800 reguardless.

Logic, or a sense of rationality has nothing to do with it.

My Stuff :

M80's
QS8's
VP150
EP800
Denon 4802
Emotiva XPA-3
Samsung BD-P3600
Sharp 65 Inch Aquos LCD