I remember correctly, H.K. models (except for the flag ship AVR7XXX/AVR8XXX) "honest" 5,7 channel driven power ratings but their 2 channel ratings, though honest, are generally lower than comparable Pioneer Elite, Denon, and Yamaha models. In your opinion, and in practical sense, do you think one is actually better off with receivers that offer better 2 channel power output ratings.
I don't spend alot of time reading other publications or critiquing their test results. However what we have seen is some companies design their amps to be more dynamic when one or two channels are driven while others tend to design for less power but the ability of driving more of the channels at that rated power. I suggest reading the following article to understand why:
Product Managing Receiver Platforms
That being said, within the same price we have found Denon amps to be class leading in terms of power delivery, noise etc.
Regardless of how the manufacturers are rating their receivers, the 5805 is still the most powerful receiver with traditional analog amps we have seen, but more importantly it has brute power with finesse.
People get way to hung up with "all channels driven" and its truly sad that marketing has brainwashed the industry for so long into this misconception that puts a best case test load and worst case test condition on the table which can only fly if the tester regulates the line voltage and has enough amperage to back it up.
Its not just for receivers, take a 200wpc x 7 dedicated amp that runs one line cord and you still have the same limitations unless its a switching amp with much higher efficiency than a class a/b.
Regardless under normal listening conditions the amp will never see this type of load for a variety of reasons:
1) Music is peaky and not a constant test tone, thus you want an amp that has plenty of headroom to accomodate.
2) In a 5 or 7CH environment, the actual power per channel used is much less since you have multiple sources producing sound in the room which increases the overall SPL level.
3) Most speakers voice coils will fry if fed a continuous signal of 200wpc, but your ears would likely fry first.
4) Most speakers are crossed over and the bass redirected to a sub(s) where the bulk of power is consumed to achieve high SPL levels.
We have addressed this issue several times in this forum (wish I could find the links), but its more obvious now then ever we need to write a formal article on it. I will add this to our list.
