what's going on with specs?

Welcome to the world of audio specmanship.

Find some magazine reviews of units you're interested in; certain mags in the U.S. and Europe test the amps and publish results, so you can actually compare apples with apples.

The First Audiophile Commandment is Know Thyself. What you need to know is, are you an audiophile? Or a measurebator? Audiophiles love the way music sounds. Measurebators love the way numbers look.   

Figure this one out and everything else falls right into place.

Paul writes a daily blog / email - ask him. He is BTW an engineer w good ears. He does respond to inquiry.

Pay attention to what many do not publish.
Current & Capacitance?  Sometimes you have to call. Not sure what you mean by strong but if you want resiliance during demanding transients then capacitance is your friend. Also, the actual details of the power supply(VA). Numbers matter, but only a little bit. Watts rarely are the tale of the tape. 

Now you've done it miller. Equated being an audiophile with religion. and that's anathema. Get it? Ha ah. No doubt that say the JC5, BHK 250, Bryston 4BCubed will all sound great. All priced near each other and listening to them at different stores will not help. This may be wrong but it seems to me the more expensive amps $20,000 and up all seem to double power from 8 to 4 ohms. Other measurements could go either way like distortion on less expensive amps can show better than more expensive ones so i agree specs are not everything. But that doesn't mean they mean nothing right? There is some reason a Boulder amp is going to sound better than a Sony receiver and it must show in some measurements. Those are the three I'm looking at and was wondering if anyone had any experience with them or should flip a coin. Oh and the Anthem STR is another contender in that price range. Any knowledge would be appreciated.