It's not such a bad review...
The issue with the amps going into "protection mode" has existed at least for the last 2 generations... in the pioneer range LX303/4/5 LX503/4/5, Integra DRX 3.3/3.4/4.3/5.4 and Onkyo's...
To trigger it requires continuous load at 4 ohm - if you read the many reviews out there by users from all 3 related brands, over the last 5 years... even users with 4 ohm speakers, are just not reporting the issue in real life... (I have seen only 1 user report the problem, over thousands of user postings).
Then when you look at other aspects of performance - signal to noise/dynamic range, preout voltage & clipping - the figures are very good.
So yes we know that this AVR family has a specific characteristic, that it protects itself, when placed under specific types of stress. (we also know that other brands tested have similar protection systems...) - it is a perhaps overly protective approach, but given past experiences where Onkyo was insufficiently protective, and had overheating related failures... a comprehensible one.
In terms of sound quality they are very good (I have an Integra DRX 3.4).
In terms of amplification, most people who have hard to drive loads that might trigger the sort of issue documented in the review (as I do), aren't going to run on the internal amps, as optimum sound quality won't be achieved that way - hard to drive speakers require high current capability amps, able to drive 2 ohms without concern - I don't believe there are ANY AVR's that can really do that properly ... hence I run external amps, and my real concern, is the quality of the Pre-Out signal, and it's max voltage so that it matches properly with my external amps.
Personally, from my perspective, in my use case, it is a big "thumbs up" - what I wanted was something capable of running surrounds and height, while giving me the pre outs to run my main left / right (and center would be a bonus).
In the end, the relatively puny 100W 3.4, is running my Center as well as surrounds (and yes the center is a difficult load) - and my power amps are running L/R - removing the L/R load off the AVR, freed up enough power for it to handle the center cleanly.
I did try the AVR running the whole setup on its own, it did not sound great - the sound improved markedly, as soon as I removed the L/R load from it... To handle the sort of speakers I have, the power supply in the AVR would need to be twice the size...
I value AmirM's measurements, as they provided me with insight into the weaknesses and strengths of the most economical option in the market today for a Dirac home theatre prepro or receiver...
Having used Audyssey since 2008... Dirac has been a dramatic stepwise improvement - I heartily recommend this family of AVR's - and my one proviso is the same one I would make for every AVR... check your speakers impedance charts, against your proposed AVR's amp capabilities - most (all I think!) AVR's won't do well with difficult speaker loads. - This is mostly a precaution, as most people's speakers are NOT difficult loads... but there are loads of fantastic sounding "exotics" that require a bit more care in the choice of amps.