Update:
Firstly, thanks to all for your respondes. And secondly I erred when I said that his is an Elite model, his is the VSX 917V and he corrected me that it shut down in both HT and stereo, -22 in stereo and -18 in HT...my bad!
Still, both of our AVR's are Pioneer and when you do the sound setup using the built in EQ the amp ramps up to "0" db for the duration of the test (about 5 minutes). This test emits various pink noise bursts and other sounds that the amp uses to adjust the settings all without incident. If a problem were to exist you'd think it would show up here!? Or, perhaps it is only sustained output that causes the shutdown...not sure.
I went over and rechecked all the connections. Even though the speaker connections couldn't have caused the issue (no loose strands, correct polarity and all were tight) I redid all the connections.
He has never had a problem with his current setup but said he usually never exceeds -30 anyway. That and the fact the M22's are much more clear at low volumes this should never be an issue should he get some.
As noted above, it's probably just an AVR fault. I have had my HT setup well past the 0 and into the +3 to +5 range without any problems (way too friggin loud though, LOL). I'll try them on my HT setup sometime before the 30 day trial is up to ensure this isn't a speaker issue just to be sure.
