Seven times most parts (except overworked power supply),versus two times for a stereo amp.Would one think they are going to be of the same quality?When high volume products are sold,a fraction of a penny savings ads up to the company doing the building.The budget that these are in,will reap you more benefits building a two channel only system,IMO.The OP of the thread also included a tube amp.A receiver isn't going to come close to satisfying that customer.You might be able to get by with one yourself,but it isn't going to happen with me.I doubt this thread will convince any audiophile reading it to do so.That Sunfire can't handle 4 ohm speakers very well.That test was at 1khz,not 20-20khz.It failed on dummy loads,at 1khz,besides a lot of audiophile speakers.With a real audiophile,I can't even think of it happening.A second system,that can happen for some.Then there's the sound of it,if you can match speakers to it,that will satisfy an audiophile.Just my opinion.