i believe this notion of "headroom" is pretty stupid, yes. while you may not want to drive your amp to the max at every second of its operation, you dont need copious amounts of unused available wattage.

it could never hurt for future upgradeability...

who doesnt want the ability to listen to their system at skull splitting levels though? you dont do it because you like it, you do it because you can...

rotel is a very established and good audio company. outlaw is a good audio company as well, just not as established.