Count me among those who use both pro and consumer amps. In my office 2 channel rig I have a cheap Crown whatever (A/B topology) driving a pair of LS50's, and couldn't be happier with the sound. In fact, to prove a point at my local hifi shop, I brought that amp in for a shootout between it and the new Anthem STR integrated, which is what, $4000 or so? We both concluded that there MIGHT be a difference, but certainly not one that reconciles the nearly 20x cost difference.
In my experience with home theater, the biggest difference between pro and consumer amps is that the latter are a bit trickier to integrate with a consumer setup. The gain staging is different, the connectors are all different, triggering is different, etc. I actually use both consumer and pro amps in my HT rig, with a Halo A31 powering the front three, and another cheap Crown whatever (I bought the two of them from some guy for $300 total) for the surrounds. I run everything XLR from my Anthem processor, but I still have to go around to my rack, which is in an adjacent room, to turn on the Crown. I've been considering getting a triggered outlet to plug it in to.
In my experience with home theater, the biggest difference between pro and consumer amps is that the latter are a bit trickier to integrate with a consumer setup. The gain staging is different, the connectors are all different, triggering is different, etc. I actually use both consumer and pro amps in my HT rig, with a Halo A31 powering the front three, and another cheap Crown whatever (I bought the two of them from some guy for $300 total) for the surrounds. I run everything XLR from my Anthem processor, but I still have to go around to my rack, which is in an adjacent room, to turn on the Crown. I've been considering getting a triggered outlet to plug it in to.