Hey there Don.

1) I don't know much about the LeAmps, so I don't know what the difference might be.

2) The "ideal" recommendation that I've seen for multiple monoblocks is to get the amps as close to the speakers as possible -- long interconnects from pre/pro to amp, short speaker cables. It's good advise, but it's also advise that is rarely feasible. Locating individual amps around the room and providing clean power to all those locations tend to make it difficult, and of course the appearance of 5-channel and 7-channel amps in recent years has made it even more common for people to use long speaker cable runs from a central amp or amp "stack."

3) This is the most common...

4) Depends on the surround speakers. If you have rear-ported speakers for your surround backs, you definitely don't want to smack them up against a wall. Are stands an option? If not, perhaps a shelf that's a few inches deeper than the speaker? As for ceiling mounting, I'm sure it could be done, but short of building a shelf and suspending it from board or rod I don't know of a way that I would trust (I wouldn't want to drill into the cabinet to attach anchors if I could avoid it). If you had access to the rafters above the ceiling (like from an attic), you could put in some braces between the rafters, drop through the ceiling with some rods, and mount a shelf onto the ends of the rods.

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