Alan (and others) have said that all receivers "sound" the same - assuming they are all within their power limits, etc. However, he has advocated Denon and HK because they handle the M80s (and possibily QS8s?) better than many other receivers will handle the low resistance of a pair of 4 Ohm (and 6 Ohm?) speakers.
Your point about the computer industry is a valid one (meaning that it applies to audio and many industries). There is a fine line between "consumer demand" being met and "consumer susceptibility" being exploited - and the truth is "all of the above" is what is really going on. That's why we all strive to be intelligent consumers - that's how most of us found Axiom in the first place. For contrast, a friend of mine and his wife decided to get a home theater system for Christmas and went to the Bose factory outlet and got a "great deal" - and are probably happier with their system than I am with mine because (although I love my system and think it is perfect for my room, taste, and budget) they think they have the best home theater system on the planet... and I'm not about to tell them otherwise. So, is Bose using mass marketing/advertising to take a disproportionate share of the marketplace with an inferior product? Most of us here think so. But, the other legitimate question is "Does Bose have a bunch of very satisfied customers that grin, sit around and play with their systems the way most of us grin, sit around and play with ours?" I think the answer to that is "yes" also. So, the bottom line is that while finding the best system for you can be fun and then having it to enjoy can be even more fun, it's not exactly life and death stuff and, in fact, as you can see from all the varied opinions floating around here, there is very little science behind it (in terms of allowing the consumer to compare products).
