Hawk, as I've said before, I don't care for all-channel stereo because it isn't really natural to have the same sounds coming from in front and behind. However, I assume that you heard it before and liked it. If so, the 525 should be as good at it as any other receiver that has the feature. 4 speakers are louder than 2 speakers; the 525 has more than enough power for them and if the gain in 5-channel stereo mode is lower it simply means that the volume control has to be set a bit higher. So far as clarity goes, the sound coming from different directions would tend to reduce clarity, but you should double-check your wiring to make sure that one or more of the speakers isn't wired out of phase.
