I know this doesn't matter right now as you have an external amp but Denon has never published anything that states they can drive 4 ohm speakers; my midrange 1804 drove my M80s with out any troubles. The 38XX series died a few years ago, the 3808 was the last one, the true replacement was the 4311 then the 4312 and now I believe the only upper end Denon is the 45XX series every thing else is no longer in production. I would look to Onkyo for the best bang for the buck avr. Mojo recently purchased one himself(I don't recall the model), I shall be visiting him over the holidays to have a listen myself.