In this paper, the Hermite polynomials are employed to study linear approximation models of narrowband multiantenna signal reception (i.e., MIMO) with low-resolution quantizations. This study results in a novel linear approximation using the second-order Hermite expansion (SOHE). The SOHE model is not based on those assumptions often used in existing linear approximations. Instead, the quantization distortion is characterized by the second-order Hermite kernel, and the signal term is characterized by the first-order Hermite kernel. It is shown that the SOHE model can explain almost all phenomena and characteristics observed so far in the low-resolution MIMO signal reception. When the SOHE model is employed to analyze the linear minimum-mean-square-error (LMMSE) channel equalizer, it is revealed that the current LMMSE algorithm can be enhanced by incorporating a symbol-level normalization mechanism. The performance of the enhanced LMMSE algorithm is demonstrated through computer simulations for narrowband MIMO systems in Rayleigh fading channels.