Don't worry Steve, we've all (well... all of us whom like to partay
) been there. Recievers are remarkable devices that, all things considered, are in some cases over-achievers. And Denons are one of the top reciever brands on the market. Still, when really pushed you will find it has its limits.
When I first got my Denon and would throw down extended high level listening sessions, my Cerwin Vega towers (almost exclusively the right side) would blow the built-in fuse. Now that I have towers without fuses (at least, I don't think my M80's have fuses???) I've shut down the Denon once, the Sherwood Newcastle once, but never the Emotiva (due to loud volume playback).
Anytime the Emotiva shut down on me it was the exact opposite, it would shut down when I was switching the reciever over from like the CD player to the DVD player. During that split second when there wasn't any signal going to the amp at all, that's when it would trip off for some unknown reason? Anyhow, during high volume boogy down parties, my XPA-3 would stay relatively cool (when placing my hand on it the top would be very warm, but not what I would consider hot) compared to the recievers when they went into protect mode. And just to clarify, I have TONS of ventilation room in both my reciever shelf and my amp shelf.
So I feel as if you are on the right track. Sure 'turn it down' is a viable option to solve your dilema. But if you're like me the peace of mind in not having to worry about setting an egg timer when your really want to jam so's ya know when to turn it back down again is worth the price of admission into the world of separates.
You won't hear any differences at regular volume than you did with your Denon. But once you get up to where the Denon was near or at its power limits, an external amp with more juice will play cleaner since it won't be adding distortion or clipping. You may only play it that loud a couple of times period, but if/when you do, that will be the only time you'd be able to tell a difference in audio quality.
So basically its like what (as I remember it anyway) Wid described purchasing separates as... An insurance policy. Maybe 99% of the time you wouldn't even have needed that extra capacity (or unused headroom as John puts it) that a beefy amp has. But that 1 day when you're all by yourself and you've got a wild hair up your ass to see just how many dishes you can get your Axioms to dump out of the kitchen cabinets... You can push your external amps to drive your system louder and longer than the mighty Denon could ever hope to do.
Oh and I wasn't trying in any way to plug Emotiva there, just mentioning the amp I went with. And good ol Axiom man such as yourself should have an A1400-8 or two (I know how you like duals
) kicking around in your HT!
