Hey,

I just added some in ceiling M3's to go with the on-wall VP180's, so I am looking for a receiver that can do ATMOS but will have enough power to drive the 4ohm 180. Am I stuck with the high end offerings or forced to go separates? Or is there a "sleeper receiver that can do it for much less?

I've been using a Yamaha RX-V659 for years and it had no problem driving the VP180 center (M22's L/R and QS8's), but obviously no ATMOS capability.

How many ceiling speakers did you add. Are you going 7.1.4 or ?
Things get really expensive when you start putting that much power into a single chassis. Many people get receivers that have pre outs for the height channels and pick up a modestly powered amp to run them, maybe an Emotiva of some sort. The heights are not used all that much and the power requirements will be nowhere near what you might think, especially compared to the mains. Sorry for the run on sentence i was on a roll LOL

If you still have your old avr you might be able to use its multichannel inputs on back to use as a straight up amplifier.

Your new AVR will be used to set level and distance. Your old AVR volume should be set to level match your new and left alone after. Or set fixed level/gain if that is an option.