John K,

Thanks for the welcome and reply!

2. - purely a wife issue. I have the floor plan I could post but dont know how. Thanks for confirming to go m2 or m22's. This is very helpful.

3. I am not a fan of in-ceiling speakers. I friend of mine installed a purely inceiling paradigm (including fronts and center!!!) and I just shake my head. But since these would only be the 6 & 7 channel I can live with it. I can't for the 4 & 5.

4. My wife is ok with a "wall" of front speakers. This will be at the end of the open concept room.

5. Thanks. My elite allows for a bi-amping mode for the 6&7th channel to then go to the fronts. I remove the jumpers and wire. I've never done a a/b test to see if there really is a difference but I use 5.1 for now so I'd be wasting those channels anyway. I wont waste them in the new set up as it will be 7.1/.2 plus I need to make sure I can power the exteriors. I can do it with a separate amp. Either way because of the assistance given thus far I will abandon the external amp to power the fronts, center.

Thanks again.

Temp.setup - 2.1 - Denon 1713 AVR, Denon 1713 BRD, Paradigm Cinema 200, and Monitor Audio 360 Sub