As a wrap up, the Acedamy graduate was Star Trek humor. (I might know a little but not arrogant enough to not ask questions of the experienced officers aboard my new assignment in the Enterprise with you all) I know a little about receivers and my Denon AVR-231CI 7.2 was destroyed in a basement flood within one year of purchase.
Getting ready to buy a newer receiver and just wanted to make sure, that there was NO way to add channels via some piece of equipment I was not aware, some secret splitter cable ect, before I seek the replacement. I don't use multiple zones.
I want to be future proof as to how many speakers I may have or want.
Thanks to the advice here, I now know FOR SURE, if I plan on a 7, 9, or 11 channel receiver, I will get the channels locked in forever on the receiver I buy so I need to make up my mind in that part moving forward.
Stay tuned to my next question shuck I will post in a new thread which will be more subjective/opinion in nature