Benefit of doubt? I did better than that, I actually assume he was kidding. A guy like him just wouldn't pair his big and demanding Salon2 with an old Sony. Well unless that old Sony is in top condition and is one of those 9000ES or equivalent even older models. Even then he would have to level match the ATI and the 9000ES at levels where the Sony would be well within its power limit. As I said before, I won't discount claims of huge improvements gain from swapping out a good AVR with separate amps but there has got to be some real reasons such as defective and/or low quality (HTIAB, entry level AVRs) components, room size, improverly set up comparisons, prone to Placebo, degree of exaggeration etc. Otherwise, differences would be subtle, relative to swapping out say a pair of R900 with a pair of Blades just as an example.