Ideal Complete System for $5000

My personal suggestion would be for a speaker system from Epos or Silverline Audio. A pair of Silverline Preludes up front ($1200), a pair of Minuets for surrounds ($600) and either a Minuet ($300) or Silverline's LCR center ($600). An Outlaw Audio LFM-1 EX subwoofer ($650) for a sub. An Epos system would include the M16i towers ($2000), ELS3 center ($350) and ELS8 monitor for surrounds ($500), running you about $500 more than the Silverlines. I would go for separates with the $3K you have left: Emotiva Audio has a $700 pre/pro with all the new audio formats, and a 5 channel amp, rated at 200 watts per channel, for $800 (!). The Silverline option would leave you some money for a BD player (the Oppo is a great idea, and is upgradable in the future), cabling and a decent power filter/surge suppressor (I like the PS Audio Quintet, usually priced at $350). IMHO, either system would be as good, although different, than the B&W/Rotel/Velodyne system you mentioned.

Five Quad 12l active monitors for $1650 and a good $1000 subwoofer(or a pair of $500s). Then get a top notch pre pro that is a couple years old and some mogami XLR cables from eBay.

Use the rest of the money for a vacation.

AV123 is offering a deal on a pair of X-Statiks and once X-Voce Center Channel for $999. Add a second pair of X-Statik's for $499. Get the Oppo mentioned above. That leaves $3000 for all the rest, including sub, pre-pro, cables, and the vacation Robr45 referred to.

I'm sure AV123 is offering some great deals in lieu of the problems the owner is having.

I like Robr45's suggestion for using powered speakers .

I believe that you will get better sound reproduction than using an A/V receiver or seperate pre/pro & amp , in that price range . Also , you will not have to worry about the synergy between the amp and speakers and can consentrate more on the quality of the signal processing and unit features .

The only real downside is speaker placement in relation to wall recepticles for power . And the I/C's for the back speakers might be tough to find , economically .

Good luck .