Bordering on criminal, I know…

Get a better amp and you don’t need 350W/channel. 

.... a waste of time.....get better amplification.

Thanks twoleftears!  I will most certainly consider the Arias.  I'm a sucker for monoblocks - heard a pair of Mark Levinson No.33s years back and I remain impressed to this day.  Thanks again! 

Thanks jl35!  I appreciate your advice!!  Will most definitely check these recommendations out! 

BAT VK3000SE Integrated at higher price, under $4000 used,  but still way lower than X350.8 plus preamp.  Not saying any of these are as good as the Pass, but way better than the Pioneer

Belles Aria and Soloist 1 Integrateds, have not heard their separates but supposedly excellent

Odyssey Khartago Plus or Extreme, I've owned both, can be had for about $600 used, outstanding. My main amp is Pass X250.8

jl35 - I'm intrigued!  Might you be able to recommend some of these amps?  Thanks!

there are some very good amps and integrateds that cost way less than the Pass and sound way better than your Pioneer while you're saving...

A most sincere THANK YOU to all!  This type of advice is truly invaluable!  I know of no other forum where this information could be obtained.  Thank you for saving me from making a terrible decision!  Most sincerely appreciated!!

I see the ML’s only have one set of binding posts. I know multi-channel receivers sometimes provide a menu option to assign spare channels so they may be used in a bi or tri-wire setup. I guess I don’t see how you would do this, unless of course bridging is specifically addressed in the manual. If so, the other posters are spot on.
Or, as Emily Litella would say- “never mind.”

I don’t think you’re really ‘bridging’ the amp channels as understood in a typical 2 channel amp where the option is provided by a switch. This is just reassigning unused amp channels in a 9 channel amplifier. However, and it’s a big however, the ML’s have a powered bass section, and the speaker has pretty high sensitivity, so the extra power is probably superfluous. 

It would be very surprising if bridging that amp would work ok with those speakers, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the result would be that the amp goes into a self-protective shutdown mode, or perhaps even damage.

A bridged amplifier sees a load impedance equal to one-half of the speaker’s impedance, at any given frequency. The 11A has a nominal impedance of 4 ohms, descending to 0.6 ohms at 20 kHz, so in bridged mode the amp would see that as nominally 2 ohms, descending to 0.3 ohms at 20 kHz.

Few amps would do well working into such an impedance, and that is particularly likely to be true in the case of a home theater receiver.

Regards,
-- Al