According to the teachings presented herein, “spreading code” knowledge is used in forming amplitude references for QAM demodulation in a DS-CDMA receiver. Here, “spreading code” broadly refers to spreading/channelization codes, scrambling codes, or the product of such codes. Further, these teachings apply to any linear DS-CDMA demodulator, such as Rake, Generalized Rake (G-Rake), or chip equalizer, and to nonlinear demodulators that employ linear filtering, such as decision feedback equalizers (DFEs). Advantageously, the determination of symbol-specific amplitude references relies on shared correlation estimates and/or shared combining weights that are common to two or more symbols of interest, thereby significantly reducing processing requirements as compared to the use of symbol-specific impairment correlation estimates.