On further consideration (I get smarter slowly, but do learn), I no longer expect the onkyo to actually solve the problem. Delivery on the onkyo is expected Friday (or perhaps sooner). so I'm going to wait for it to actually show up.
In the mean time its time to do taxes... Fun (not really).
Enjoy!
If the X3800H was shutting down right on the edge, such as, if you listen at lower volume by even just 1 to 2 clicks, then the RZ70 will solve the problem.
The suggested external amp route is only to give you more margin, that's all.
The RZ70 will give you about 1.5 to 2 dB at the most more spl at rated output vs the smaller/lighter Denon.
Is your R700 same as the Reserve R700:
If it is, it is practically closer to 4 ohm nominal than 8 ohm nominal, say 5.5 ohms lol..
and note the reviewer's comments:
Polk Reserve R700 Floorstanding Loudspeaker Review:
I measured the sensitivity at 88.9dB at 1 meter for 2.83v. That is very close to what Polk reports. That is pretty typical for loudspeakers in this class. Users will not need a monster amp for these speakers to get loud. However, they should be able to take a good deal of power if a beefy amp is available.
So, it really depends how hard you would push them, if not too hard (such as lower volume, sitting not too far etc.) then the RZ70 will be great for them without help from external amps, otherwise the protective circuitry might activate, worse case would be it might activate to limit voltage/current, without shutting down, so you might lose performance without knowing.. Some users of the lower models are not happy with that kind of protection, though they tended to be from owners of the lower models, the RZ70 is probably too new to have a lot of user feedback yet. You seem to have use case for probably more "power" than a lot of people, that's why I mentioned some of the things to watch for using the trial period.
