Right on the money, John.

Second zone outs on receivers are potentially(hell, they are) confusing to operate. A second stand alone receiver, dedicated to the second zone, will do a superb job, is easy to operate, etc. Get a different brand of receiver if you don't want to do simple ir routing, although this type of system is easy to control simply by using a dual zone connecting block from Xantech. You end up spending the same amount of cash as the second amp, and your customer and their family can run it without getting anxious.

Fact is, if we could delete second zone out and add other valuable features instead, I'd be on it like white on rice.