Hey Bluforever, you mentioned your old receiver could not power the new speakers. What kind of speaker wire do you have? You might want to consider upgrading to a heavier gauge wire if your using cheap small gauge wire. Even upgrading to the cheap monstercable xp or something similar will make a big difference. Or check out www.bluejeancable.com. Their speaker wire is 10g belden wire. It's not fancy, but its cheap and does the job and will not add or take away anything from your music. Higher quality wire will put less of a strain on your receiver.
Also, check out the subwoofers from www.outlawaudio.com