Unleash_me,
I stand by that statement, 'imposing' or not

I base it on my experience with people around me who buy equipment for music vrs those that want to hear 'The Matrix- HD' in all it's floor-shaking glory. And the latter always seem to prefer loud, hard-hitting amps, even if musicality is lost somewhere.
Actually, your suggestion about avr preouts and dedicated stereo amp is exactly what I was thinking of going in for, once I finalise on the system components. There are issues (level-matching, sub out) with that approach as well, which I'll probably ask in detail in a separate thread. Hopefully you and others in this forum can shed some light.
Sumit,
I have a decent budget avr (denon 1507) but that is not comparable to the previous marantz I had. You're right about the KI stamp...but I am sure there are other talented engineers at Marantz today to carry fwd his legacy. The Marantz sound is still as distinct as it was before. Finally, as you say, it's an individual choice. But then, so is every choice we make in music... and life ;-)
Vortex,
You put it very succintly. I am equally curious to know how movie scenes are rated from a sound point of view.