The internet is a really swell place to entertain differing opinions in a civilized fashion, ain't it? JohnK and John H, I don't believe I could disagree with you fellas more; different receivers and/or amps can have a signifigant effect on the sound you hear from the same pair of speakers. And it needn't cost you an arm and a leg.
My experience: my pair of Axiom M60s was originally paired with my three year-old Yamaha 795a receiver (85wpc x5, Dolby Digital, DTS, blah, blah, blah...), and I was initially quite pleased with the results, but after a couple of months, I began to wonder where the real "oomph" (y'know...the muscle!) in the sound was, given the capabilities of the M60s (I'm not too crazy about using my sub for music; prefer straight two-channel, that's just me). This past June, I purchased a used two-channel Parasound amp (HCA-1000A, 125 wpc) in a private sale for $450CDN to connect from the main left and right pre-outs of the Yamaha, and the improvement in the sound was immediately apparent; ah, there's the beef!! No sub needed here...Several weeks later, I bought, again in a private sale, an absolutely beautiful piece of vintage gear (used, natch). The unit is a Marantz 2285 receiver (here's a pic), circa 1977. Price was $315CDN, and the power rating is the same as the Yammie reciever (85wpc), but the 2285 stomps all over the Yammie, and in a most embarassing fashion. The 2285 has copious amounts of power and buckets of head-room, while the Yamaha is comparitively anemic to both the 2285 and the Parasound, so much so that I no longer use it for music at all; it's been demoted to HT use strictly (I'm using the Parasound to power the mains for HT use), and in this role, I remain fully satisfied with it.
The moral of my story, I suppose, is different strokes. If you dig the sound from your mid-line HT receiver, more power to you. If you're floored by the performance of your shiny new Denon flag-ship, knock yourself out. Since I don't have a spare five grand laying about for the latest top-of-the-line, I'll happily live with the really small inconvinience of having to swap banana plugs between my Marantz and my Yamaha connecting to my M60s, depending on the application.
Enjoy the music, gang, and cheers!

DS.