The Michaura M55 and M66 speakers are excellent. I have four of the Michaura M55s in a 7.1 system. You will be very happy with them. They will definitely need a sub. If you need to choose between a sub vs center speaker for the short term, I would recommend getting the sub first as you can phantom the center as an interim solution.
I have noticed a subtle improvement in sound quality when I use HDMI vs Toslink feed off the Toshiba XA2 into the integra DTC-9.8 when listening to CDs. I have not compared decoded 5.1a out vs uncompressed PCM (or HBR bitstream) over HDMI for high rez audio though most don't find a difference. The only drawback (a minor one at present) to using 5.1a out from a player is that you will not be able to listen to DTS-HD High Resolution Audio or DTS-HD Master Audio since no current player can internally decode these formats (save for Denon's upcoming DVD-3800BDCI Blu-ray player); instead, you will hear the "core DTS" for these two formats with 5.1a. For video, maximum resolution with component will be 720p/1080i for BR or HD-DVD; you cannot upconvert S-DVD over component to 720p/1080i (because Hollywood won't allow it) unless you have a player that disables Macrovision copyright protection
. So, if you like to watch S-DVDs upconverted to 720p or higher, you may want to use HDMI for video.
John
