and my sub is 100 watts max. will receivers higher than 100 watts damage it?

An amplifier never has too much power....

If an amplifier has less power than the speaker can handle, there is a risk of clipping, and that will damage a speaker for sure

Correct. You don't have to worry about too much power.

Also, unless your buying a very high end receiver or a dedicated amp, the wattage ratings are always exaggerated. Try putting that cheap $200 walmart 1000w receiver on a watt meter, crank it up, and you'll notice that the entire unit is only drawing 300w! I find that the power rating on none-high end receivers are pretty much meaningless.

well, i currently have a Kenwood Sw-303, only lists 100 watts on the back, no mention of rms or peak.
lacks lfe input, but does have a single mono line input. i think this sub was made between 1992 and 1996.

paid for a used, but in great shape Pioneer Elite Combo:

AVR: Pioneer Elite Vsx-49TXI with ILink
DVD: Pioneer Elite DV-79 with ILink and hdmi.

for 630.

one question about setup: when playing ac-3 discs, will a little light show up when the signal is locked, like for the denon recievers?

so, trim it down and keep only the important stuff.
i have already saved this on the pc, so it can be deleted, trimmed or shortened.

Which one did you get

well, i got the elite 49txi and elite dv79avi with ILINK.
so much for halloween movies, more like christmas

I have the 79avi as well. One of the best dvd transports that can send near pure signal over hdmi. Its analog section is very good too.
I found 3 bugs only.
1- region free needs hardware mod
2- it has minor chroma upsampling error
3- layer change is not as smooth

well, it's a lot better than my POS: a philips dvp 3680:

dts? NO
dolby? YES
hdmi: YES, V1.3

it's a cheap 40 dollar machine, about 6 lbs.
i'm SO happy to ditch THIS one and use the pioneer elite DV79avi:

dts? YES
dolby? YES
sacd? YES
hdmi: YES, V1.1

region free? pass
layer change? we will see
chroma error? we will see

i plan to use the hdmi, component and ILINK connections

Why using component and Ilink when using HDMI?

Ilink is strictly digital audio for Ilink components.
to make it easier, here's my planned connections...

VIDEO:

TV: (monitor out), component video
DVD: (tv input) component video no 2 and hdmi
LD: (dvd/ld input) composite or s-video

AUDIO:

DVD: (tv input) Ilink, digital audio jack 2 (in case Ilink fails)
LD: (dvd/ld input) ac-3 rf, coaxial digital and analog audio.

In most cases, a SPDIF input, with a decent coax cable, will sound better than ILINK (If you are not using SACD, ILink is not really something)
Why use component and HDMI from one source.... And doesn't your TV have HDMI? <= if not, are you sure the receiver will convert all signals to component out?

My receiver will convert all sources (Composite, Component and HDMI) to HDMI, but not down from HDMI to Component/Composite or Component to Composite....
For me, it's not a problem.... My TV has HDMI
On my receiver are connected: LD Player, HD-DVD player, Blu-Ray player, DVD player, HDD-DVD recorder, S-Betamax recorder, SVHS recorder and a Computer...
Using different connections, but all going thru HDMI out to TV

you are correct, integra.

my tv has 2 hdmi inputs, one's the ld player via scaler, and the other is the dvd.
i'm gonna try the Ilink.
the 49txi upconverts composite and s-video to component.

i'll set the front L/R to large, and all other speakers to small. acceptable crossovers are 50 and 80hz.

79avi has hdmi 1.1 will not output sacds through hdmi. You can play cds and dvds, they will output sound on hdmi. For sacds you can use analog rca or ilink. Ilink is jitter free and keeps it in digital domain. 79avi will not pass 6ch pcm so ilink is needed for dvd-a as well

UPDATE:

i am now the proud owner of a Pioneer Elite VSX 59TXI.
good idea. oh how i missed 6.1 surround at home.