I have a 4 year old LPA-1 powering my Axioms. No complaints. It does what it's supposed to do, day-in and day-out. Definitely worth it. If/when it ever dies, I'd replace it with another Emotiva amp. I guess you either like Emotiva's stuff, or you don't.
It made a difference in terms of SQ for me. But that was because my previous AVR would start clipping when trying to drive M80's at anything above about 85db.
I'd say go for it. If you don't like it, Emotiva has a good return policy. I know, I've taken advantage of it.