Hot damn, it works!
I dug around through my collection until I found my Extreme Edition DVD of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The Extreme DVD version of T2 has a THX optimizer routine on it, so I used that to put the channels through their paces. According to the tests everything was wired up properly and working exactly to spec. As soon as I had assured myself that everything was up to snuff I started putting the receiver through its paces, playing CDs on it via the DVD player (Wolfsheim's "Spectators" and Front Line Assembly's "Epitaph") and then dropping in a few DVDs to test the surround sound processing (I used the Superbit version of Johnny Mnemonic for DTS and The Animatrix for Dolby 5.1).
Right now I have the Jurassic Park sound track playing and it is quite, quite lovely. This was money well-spent, and definately worth the wait to get the receiver fixed. I can finally enjoy the home theater experience .. in my home!
I see her stumbling through the rain