That receiver series (1501 and 1601) is pretty much designed on the assumption that you have a powered sub to offload lo frequency sound to AND you are using speakers that are a stable 8 ohm and high sensitivity. It is not your best choice if you play to run high end bookshelves on it.
I took my Canton's in to a dealer to test the 1601 just in case I could get away with it, and indeed in 2-channel there was a big difference between that 1601 and a decent quality integrated amp. The 1601 cannot get the most out of a challenging pair of near-full range bookshelves.
