Was watching Youtube and came across a video regarding the RZ50, which I'm planning on getting or was, not so sure at the moment. I came across a comment I quoted below, I was going to do exactly what he tried. Get a 3 channel amp for my front sound stage and run 4 atmos speakers.(7.2.4) According to his comment you can't do this ??? So now I'm thinking maybe I just look for a better AVR since I'll have to double my amp budget like he did. This seems crazy and I hope this comment is incorrect.
"I just got an RZ-50 after doing much research. Had to wait not only for this but for different pieces of my 7.1.4 setup. I have a complaint. I knew I needed an ext amp to get full atmos. After research, I learned that getting a very good ext amp for the front was the way to go because the front stage is the heart. I got an emotiva XPA 3 channel amp thinking that the RZ-50 would handle the remaining 8 channels. Egg in my face when I realized there was no height#2 speaker connector and the zone connectors cannot be assigned. Why would you design something like this? I wasn't going to use the expensive emotiva to run surround speakers. I was forced to purchase a 2nd ext amp in order to accomplish this by pre outing the surr backs and using those as the heights #2. The RZ-50 has processing for 11 channels, and you chose 2 of those channels to be a zone that cannot be assigned to what you need. And nowhere did I here this on any review. I guess most people only use 2 atmos speakers so they don't come across this issue. Had I known this, I would have bought a 4 or 5-channel ext amp instead of having 2 ext amps and 1 avr. I looked and noticed pioneer and onkyo both have this design. Better to charge 4100 more and add the height#2 connector. "
"I just got an RZ-50 after doing much research. Had to wait not only for this but for different pieces of my 7.1.4 setup. I have a complaint. I knew I needed an ext amp to get full atmos. After research, I learned that getting a very good ext amp for the front was the way to go because the front stage is the heart. I got an emotiva XPA 3 channel amp thinking that the RZ-50 would handle the remaining 8 channels. Egg in my face when I realized there was no height#2 speaker connector and the zone connectors cannot be assigned. Why would you design something like this? I wasn't going to use the expensive emotiva to run surround speakers. I was forced to purchase a 2nd ext amp in order to accomplish this by pre outing the surr backs and using those as the heights #2. The RZ-50 has processing for 11 channels, and you chose 2 of those channels to be a zone that cannot be assigned to what you need. And nowhere did I here this on any review. I guess most people only use 2 atmos speakers so they don't come across this issue. Had I known this, I would have bought a 4 or 5-channel ext amp instead of having 2 ext amps and 1 avr. I looked and noticed pioneer and onkyo both have this design. Better to charge 4100 more and add the height#2 connector. "
But anyways, I hope you get a chance to try Dirac Live again. I think if you spend some time with it you will become a fan. You obviously are a true hobbyist based on your post. Me thinks your gonna like it 
