chesseroo: Well, with regard to the
official spec, my understanding is that relatively few brands support 4-ohm speakers in their (even high-end) all-in-one receivers anyway, with Onkyo being one of those few that officially mentions 4-ohm speakers in the spec. Correct me if I am wrong, but I cannot find a mention of 4-ohm speaker support in the receiver specs/manuals from Pioneer, Denon, H/K, Yamaha, or Marantz.
That said, I do agree with you that the overly conservative setting of protection circuits in Pioneer Elite receivers is, at best, very strange, especially in their more expensive models. According to reports from people who had their Elite "fixed," the receiver seems to be capable of driving their 4-ohm speakers just fine after the fix. Just paraphrasing what you already said, I guess people who want a no-brainer support for 4-ohm speakers, need a peace of mind,
and have several grands to spend on amps (not me
) should really go for separates rather than one of these higher-end all-in-ones.
JohnK: I got the info on D912 from Tokyo, and they were very articulate about the point. Indeed, the PR does not specifically mention equalization, which triggered me to send my inquiry in the first place. This PR could serve as a text-book example of misleading advertisement. Oh well...
Cheers!
