William, there's no good reason to restrict your search to a 2-channel unit. Multi channel receivers are sold in far larger numbers and their price benefits from economies of scale. They're required by the FTC amplifier power regulations to state their power specs with two channels driven, and make suitable choices for powering stereo speaker systems(with a possibility for future surround speakers being added for greater music appreciation).
Since you're in the U.S. an excellent source is Accessories4less, which specializes in factory refurbished receivers, which should be, if anything, even more reliable than a brand-new unit.
An excellent buy should be this
Integra upscale Onkyo brand-mate , which should be ample for your needs.
Incidentally, hope that you were able to do some classical music listening, as we briefly discussed a few years ago.
