We are a difficult bunch to satisfy......but why can't each pre-out and amp be assigned or why didn't Denon just but a Pre/Pro? I'd love to buy an X3700 and use pre-amp mode for the front three channels and onboard amps for all other channels. Alas I can run it in 11.1 mode (even though my system is 5.2.4) and power my LR at 2V of clean power but not my center.
I respect Denon and appreciate the quality of their products, and these things are feature-rich, but wish for a bit more flexibility on the pre-out front.
They have to save such flexibility for their flag ship AVR-X8500H, I guess otherwise everyone will just buy the 6700
because the X8700H won't be out for at least another year to compete with it.
In terms of flexibility, at least you can still run 11.1 and power FL/FR with >2 V clean, assuming you can't do so with the center, but for movies when the center channel dominates, can you really hear 0.018732% THD+N? And, that's at 2.5 dB above reference level for rooms that ended up with trim level 0 after running Audyssey.
ASR review (on page 14) shows that even at 1.4 V, volume position 79.5 (that is 0.5 below "0"), or 195 W/390 W into 8/4 ohms using power amps with 29 dB gain, the AVR-X3600H still managed the very clean 0.0014% THD+N.
It was not affected when 7 channels were driven either, SINAD of the FL/FR dropped only by 1, and no changed either the 5 channel driven conditions.
Regardless, for those who don't need XLR or choose to blindly accept the perceived benefits of HDAM (measurements actually showed the opposite), the new Denon AVRs is a good alternative to Marantz AVPs, especially if some of the internal amps will be used.
