multi-room setup questions

[cjflet0]

I am building a new house and have prewired it with 14/4 oxygen free wire. I have purchased the Onyko 701 receiver and plan to run 6.1 surround in the living room and 6 other zones. I keep getting conflicting information about how to setup the rest of the system. What is the best way to config the speaker in the rest of the house. I plan to put in impedence matching volume control in each room, 40-60 watt speakers in each room and I am looking to buy an amp., a connecting block or speaker selector.
1. I have an old sony receiver and am considering running the two receivers in series. Would this eliminate the need for an amp?
2. Which will fit my setup better (with the I M volume controls) a connecting block or a speaker selector?
3.How big of an amp and how many channels should I buy?
4. Please make suggestions on brands of amps, watts required to push multi rooms all together, web sites that have good information on install of systems. I have another ~$800 to spend on multi room speakers and amp

I have tried to pick up as much info on line as possible but now I am beginning to feel overwhelmed. Thanks for any help received.