I thought some people might be interested this:

http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/denon-upgrades-avr-3310ci-and-avr-990-to-dsx

Intersting, I wish they had the surround B amp seperate from the A amp, this way all of us 3808 owners could be upgraded as well

I had thought all the amp modules were freely assignable in Denons which was one reason I was hesitant to by an Onkyo because I was thinking the Denon would be more easily upgraded via firmware. Are all Denon models designed as you describe?

I don't know what they did for the newer models or the more upper end ones but I know on the 3808 and lower, if they have multiple side surround amps(A and B) are linked together. The rear and side surround amps are seperately assignable so Denon could allow for height or wide and take away the ability for rear channels while running height or wide.

I would gladly give up the rear channels on my Onkyo to be able to run both height and wide channels but I’m pretty sure it’s not doable even with a firmware upgrade.

I wonder if you run height and wide at the same time it destroys the soundstage more than it enhances?

Not from what I’ve read. According to Audyssey both are better than rear channels with the wides being most important followed by the heights. However, I haven’t checked to see if anyone else corroborates their research. My experimenting indicates that for me both the height and wide channels add much more to the surround experience than the rear channels noting that I am using QS8 surrounds.

I surmise that the Onkyo 000x line was cobbled together from an existing 7.1 design by throwing in the hardware for one more channel I’m guessing both to get something with height or wide capability to market quickly (AFAIK they beat everyone else) and so that next year they can release a fully capable model so everyone will be tempted to upgrade. Just my cynical way of thinking.

Dean, since the 3310 already has DPLIIz with its height channel provision, it's questionable how many would go for a $100 upgrade just to add a width channel.

Jay, the A and B surround feature on the Denon doesn't involve separate amp channels(and certainly not separate amps); it's simply parallel wiring to the side surround channel, with of course the identical side surround material in both. So, there's nothing that can be assigned for another purpose, since the content has to remain identical.

I knew it was wired in parralel but for some reason I had it in my head the A nd B ran seperate amps, not sure how I came up with that when I know the literature states 7 discrete channels. I beleive the 48XX and 53XX series runs the A/B surrounds with discrete amps, maybe that was where I got the idea .