This seems like a great community of folks, and I do appreciate everyone's time & response to my issue.
1. I ran bookshelf speakers (and my main front L/R) direct to Zone 2, short speaker cables and no builder BS. The issue was just as bad, so I don't believe it is the speakers, the wiring, 70v/8ohm, etc. The ONLY thing that is constant at this point is the AVR, and the output of Zone 2
Lol
@TLS Guy this cracks me up! My brain works the same way sometimes. The speakers are Klipsch CDT-5800-C II which are definitely 8ohm, and sound pretty darn good for their purpose I'd say.
Today I returned the AVR to Costco. They are all out of the TSR-700 and nothing on their website either! Is it sold out, discontinued, or otherwise unavailable? The next Yamaha model up that I'd like is 3x the cost so probably not.
They had the Denon s760h, but it only has 7 speaker outputs and cannot do what the TSR-700 can (5.1.2 Atmos + Zone 2)
Ah well. I'll be researching and shopping for a replacement. Maybe I can find another Yamaha and I'll post back. Or if anyone has recommendations I'm all ears.
Best,
Steve