Why don't you go for maranz 5015( I think similar to 2700 almost same price may be 5k more) it have pre outs ... in case you feel in later stage... the avr is not powerful enough for all the channels... you can connect power amp for front channels.I have never connected heights ... but I was thinking to connect ... I have floor standing speakers they take more power compared to bookshelfs coz they give some base frequency too.. with an active sub. And by passing frequencies may be less than 80 to that... we can connect heights too.