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The two factors to consider are:

1. How many channels does your system permit
2. Do you want to buy that many speakers?

All the receivers that support more than 5.1 channels will also work fine with a 5.1 channel setup. Obviously, 7.1 will provide better surround sound than 5.1, but at the expense of two extra speakers. If you have a limited budget you will have to decide whether to buy 5.1 higher quality speakers, or go for cheaper speakers to allow for 7.1 channels. By the way, the .1 channel is the home theater sub-woofer. The sub-woofer is, in my opinion, really needed for home theater. A system will work without it, but I don't recommend going without for home theater. The center channel is also very important for home theater, serving to anchor the sound to the video screen. If you go to our site by the link at the bottom of this article you can see images for the descriptions following. These are the recommended placements according to Dolby Labs.