Old school receiver, tips to max it out?

[reubelim]

Hi all:

I have been enjoying a Yamaha AX-1 which does 6.1, which I have hooked up to similarly old-school components: B&W DM 604 mains and a bit newer large B&W center, small Sherwood front effects, mid-sized Mission rear center and NHT SuperOne rear effects, and Jamo SW505e sub. My monitor is a Pany 50 inch 1080i plasma and I use either a Pioneer 1080i regular DVD player, old Pioneer laser disc or hook up an HP notebook w/ blueray via the HDMI to the Pany. Yup, I am cheap, (sigh). Five kids in school from law school to toddler age will do that to you...

My questions are: 1) Can I connect in series 2 rear centers so that I would have something like 7.1 instead of the 6.1 I now have with just 1 rear center? How would this differ from regular 7.1, and what stuff do I have to watch out for if I try this? I have some nice AR15 8 ohms lying around that I want to use for the purpose. 2) What is the ideal blu-player I should get to enjoy some of the newer HD codexes via direct analog connects to the AX-1? I have extensively read the thread on doing this trick. Tried it out using the analog outs on the Pioneer and didn't notice much of a difference, maybe because it's not blu-ray, but did notice that the subwoofer became ineffective. Perhaps anyone could recommend a blu-ray that has requisite processing and bass controls that isn't too expensive and would slot in perfectly when I can get a new receiver?

Yes, I really intend to upgrade to an HDMI receiver, but will have to wait until I can afford one which can match the power specs/basic processing I now get from the AX-1. Softening up the missus though on getting a new blu-ray player, so hope you guys could help out.

Cheers!