But you completely sidestepped the point that Peter was making. Have you double blind comparo'd the receivers you mentioned? And saying "big words am hard" doesn't get you out of it.

While JohnK usually doesn't make this specific: if an amplifier (or receiver) is designed to have a flat frequency response (and achieves this design goal, as I'm certain that all major mid-high end manufacturers are capable of) then they must, by definition, when level balanced, sound the same. The Sunfires would appear to be an exception, from your description.

I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!