Paladin98, right now I have 2 nOrh monoblocks and am running a pure stereo system: no center channel. Nor, I have to say, do I miss it for most of my listening, which is not HT. Though I think it would probably widen the sweet spot. If/when I go full HT it will probably be with the Maggie MMG C in the center and a pair of MMG W's for surround duty; I can push them with my old Adcom GFA535 but may have to get the nOrh L3 for the center. It's funny, though, that even with no center or surround channels at all we can get very good apparent surround sound; the effect on "Monsters Inc" was startling, with voices clearly coming from the rear!
7.1? Not in my condo.
Korkster, having had MMG's in my home for 60 days and now owning 1.6QR's, I can tell you the former can sound marvelous in a large room but the latter are a lot more marvelous, especially in the bass with good electronics like the 990 and the nOrh monoblocks.

Best to you both.