"To the other guys -- please don't take this post as a put-down. This issue has had me bogged down for over a year now. So count me in as a card carrying member of the confused society, but just a little bit less so today thanks to Al and Ralph. Just check my other posts."
I don't see why any of this can be so confusing. If you take the technical info, such as Al and Atmasphere have provided, and suppliment it by listening to different combinations of amps and speakers, it should all fall into place. Picking audio components is mostly subjective. You can't bypass listening and hope to be successful. You can get sound to come out of just about anyting, but for good sound, only you can decide.
I don't see why any of this can be so confusing. If you take the technical info, such as Al and Atmasphere have provided, and suppliment it by listening to different combinations of amps and speakers, it should all fall into place. Picking audio components is mostly subjective. You can't bypass listening and hope to be successful. You can get sound to come out of just about anyting, but for good sound, only you can decide.