Yeah I think 16 is kind of crazy unless you are going 12/12 from seed.
Look at pics of my 4 in my signature line. These completely clog the light space under my 600W, and I add about 200W of additional CFL's around the edges.
You can only grow so much foliage under a particular power light. Foliage translates into bud. My point being in my setup, I could grow 2 highly vegged and trained plants, or 4 moderately trained (like I have done), or a dozen little plants, and I think the yield would be about the same for any method, done right.
It's all about healthy leaves intercepting good light and growing tissue, ultimately bud.