I just want to add the Pioneer Elite dropped it's watts also from the sc-07 120watts to the sc-27 to 111watts for 5 channels
at 7 channels the are almost the same though at 106 watts and 107 watts.
It's not as bad as the Denon.
I wonder if Quality control or maybe it did drop this much watts for both Denon and Pioneer. More experienced people can chime in here.
I wasn't to keen on the review of the Sc-27 the guy who reviewed the -07 did a better job explaining the class D sound while this guy didn't.
Question why don't they compare current receivers to the ones they are reviewing? eg the Pioneer is more dynamic compared to Denon's less dynamic sound and explain it ...Are the highs grainy? ( This is an example so don't take it as the truth).
As I said I was quite disappointed with the HTMag,S&V reviews lately. I rely more on the British Home Cinema Choice ones. Regarding to protective mode during the tests for the 4810 and other Yamaha models, think about the following:
2X300W (approx.) in their 2 ch 4 ohm tests = 600W total
5X148W in their 5 ch 8 ohm tests = 740W total
7X36W in their 7 ch 8 ohm tests = 252W total
It not only defy electrical theory but also defy logic.
Logic:
1. If in the 5 ch and 2 ch tests the thing can do up to 303W into 4 ohms at 1% THD, then the amp section is not the bottle neck.
2. If in the 5 ch tests it did 740W total, the power supply is not the bottle neck that caused it to activate the protective mode when delivering only 252W total into 8 ohms in the 7 ch test.
3. This may be a weaker logically argument but still, how come the 10 lb lighter and $1,000 less 4310 had no trouble delivering 7X116.6W in his (same reviewer, Mr. Fleischmann) 7ch driven tests?
So why? May be Gene can shed some light but we can only guess. May be it is the way the protective mode is set up by Denon to detect not only the total output but also how the output ramps up if it detected all 7 channels ramp up at the same rat? Who knows?