Rich - I was also tempted for the 8805, as I already have a 7703. The store owner nearest me said for 2 channel, he could not hear a difference between the 77XX and 88XX series, so the Emotiva won. The fact that the refurb unit was $1299 with Dirac didn't hurt.

Based on my experience with the 7703, I think you will be thrilled with the 8805. One cool aspect is you CAN run Audyssey and turn off the mains for 2 channel, and still have it EQ The subwoofer.

Swapping out the 7703 isn't because it seemed like I was missing anything (in fact, we also have a PS Audio Stellar Gain preamp that gets raves, and the Marantz matched it for sound quality), but rather wanting to try Dirac and also get a feel for Emotiva's preamps.

I may grab a pair of Emotiva 5 channel amps this fall to compare to Axiom's - that's a whole different story, though.