Advice on separates

I would seriously consider Bel Canto - their website is Belcantodesign.
Their entire product line get's great reviews - I've owned their digital amps and was very pleased - as an added bonus - the customer service
is second to none.
Good Luck

Check out the Anthem AVM20 Surround processor. Highly recommend this piece for it's sound quality and value. Depending
on your budget and space considerations, you might want to have a separate amplifier for your front right and left channels and then
get a 5 channel amp for the other five speakers. You'll get much
better stereo sound that way. But, if you have to have all 7 channels of amplification in one box, you're on the right track with
Lexicon. Anthem also makes a 7 channel amp, the PVA7. I have
not heard either the Lexicon or Anthem 7 channel amps, so I cannot comment on that. I have heard many surround processors,
though, and I cannot say enough about the Anthem AVM20.