I personally think that's some great logic Mike, that has been my plan all along. I spent some $$$ on a nice 5 channel amp to start with and picked up a dirt-cheap floor model Yamaha receiver. I'm actually looking at upgrading sometime here in the near future (camera purchase got in the way) but Yammie (757) & Pioneer (1015) and the Denon 2106 are the front runners. Lots of features and decently priced. I do suspect that any of those receivers would actually drive my system sufficiently without the external amp.

"Chickens don't clap."