I absolutely agree with John about question 1. As to 2, what he says makes sense, but my reasoning behind receiver first (in my own case) was that I couldn't afford both, and my current 2 channel receiver was dying. Decidedly. It sounds like we may have/had similar problems. A few years ago, I bought the sub first, then bought (what I thought were) decent speakers, now I've got the reciever. I tend to disagree with John about the surrounds vs sub argument; I really like having that extra bass, and I've never gotten that much enjoyment out of surrounds when listening to them (not in my house).
