That made sense and I fully agree with the concept. However, I find the claims by some that the difference the UPA-2 made for them very surprising and perhaps it could be the case for their specfic conditions that I don't know about. I experienced no audible difference whether I had a 200/300W or more powerful amp connected to any of my previous mid range AVRs for most music and movie applications so I highly doubt a lesser amp could do much unless the OP listens to something like 5,7 ch stereo modes, or he has one of those specific conditions that I don't know about. The amps helped in terms of dynamic headrooms but you should only notice the difference during the moments when such dynamic headrooms are called for. I think the OP needs to hear from both side, and now he has, so let's hope he will in fact hear overall better sound quality he is aiming for with the UPA-2. $299 is an excellent price regardless.
One more point, don't expect the AVR will run cool with the added amp. The fact is, for most HT and music applications, the amp consumes very little power, it is the prepro section that consumes most of the heat on average and generating probably 90% of the heat. The power amp will consume high peak power (milli seconds) but on average it probably puts out less than 10W total and there fore consumes no more than say 20 to 25W.
