Is it Sir T or Sherlock the Terrible? One good point, setting speakers to "small" opposed to "large", and, one good observation, BAJ, here's what T was getting at, HD audio formats cannot be passed via optical or coaxial connections at least the lossless DTS-MA or Dolby Tru HD. So the Yamaha is asked to handle a wider frequency range, NOW, that is assuming the OP was playing a Blu-ray disc opposed to DVD, if DVD, then, uh, nevermind

Interesting the tech said to turn the amp up full without a load, I was always under the impression that was a bad thing to do.