Doc
Yup. I know what you mean, centre and surrounds playing through avr and fronts through integrated. It will work nicely no doubt. The best part being that you don't have to change speaker connections for movies/music and for music you don't have to power up the avr.
Just that timber matching could be a problem since every amp has a different signature, only if you critically listen to it. Also the fronts should not overpower the center in my opinion. If you have enough power for the centre, there are no issues. You are anyway getting a powerful avr now.
On a second thought you may be getting better quality on the centre since more power is available in absence of amplification of two channels on avr.
What we are discussing now actually needs a new thread, sorry to derail yours... Good luck on your hunt.