You need the Yamaha RX-V1500 Its going to cost you $800. It has the YPAO 'mic' thingy to set up for room acoustics. It has 7.1. It offers zone 2 powered and zone 3 with an amp. It also has full discrete IR codes. Its probably exactly what your looking for.

The Cerwins are probably what caused your old reciever to smoke. They have very low impedances which causes the internal amps to work overtime.

[Link: yamaha.com]

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