Which is better?

[curtis]

Quite right - I saw that the volume knob was half way but it was louder and it drove a 3 woofer (300wrms per channel speakers)(not ascends).

What I will do is to find and audition the HK receivers

What was the sensitivity rating for the speakers? The amount of power they can handle is not indicative of how hard they are to drive.

When you audition HK receivers, and want to compare, you really need to use the same speakers and room.