KC, you have echoed my previous comments about the pioneer receivers (posted sometime last week).
For a rather expensive 'Elite' model, their specs are somewhat suspect (or perhaps feeble is a better word) when compared to other brands in a similar price range. Who owns a $2400+ (msrp cdn) receiver that doesn't support (at least in the whitepaper specs) powering a 4 ohm speaker?
Although i find the sound of Pioneers' receivers to be just fine, i've also been told by some electronics repair guys that in general the build quality is really not that good.
Considering how ridiculously hot these receivers can get, it only supports this hypothesis.
