In Ceiling speakers for a high-rise apartment

Still confused. Are you then not going for any in ceiling speakers?

If that is a yes then spend 4-5k on full range fronts and the rest on electronics. You can get away with a 2 channel Emotiva amp to give your speakers plenty of juice and get a nice 2 channel preamp.

If you are only doing 2 channel then I would suggest a Simaudio Moon integrated and then spend the rest on speakers. That would be an utterly incredible setup with great sound and great amp muscle too. The Simaudio integrateds are phenomenal.

Correct, no ceiling speakers. I decided not to compromise the sound quality.
I had planned to add outdoor speakers to this set up. It is a small patio. Will this set up work for that?

Thanks

Will it work? Yes. But you will need a speaker selector for that. If you are going to be absolutely hard-core audiophile and do serious critical listening dont get a speaker selector and instead spend $219 and get an Emotiva A-100 it's a perfect solution for a second zone and you can take a loop out from the integrated to feed the second zone. You don't get trigger-level automation, that's the only thing. The Emotiva can turn on and off when it senses an audio signal so it may be ideal for you.

If you are going for a higher end integrated like the Simaudio pieces then you will have a sweet setup.

It just sounds to me from your posts that you are trying to fly through this. Forgive me if I misunderstand your posts as its just text without inflection. But if you have no control at all of your acoustics or speaker placement, it will seriously impair your system's potential. Speaker placement and room acoustics are absolutely critical. And it constantly amazes me how mediocre speakers can sound great and fantastic speakers can sound mediocre depending on the room, acoustics, and placement. So, I think it's fantastic that you have a sizeable budget; but I'd hate for you to spend $$$ and not get the enjoyment and quality you could if the system were setup properly. Again, if you have all that under control and planned out that's great and don't mean to be insulting.

No offense taken at all.
I am now researching things that can be done to make the room better acoustically. If you have a website for this i would appreciate if you could pass that along. I believe this must be worked out 1st. Which Simaudio pieces do you recommend?

Thanks

The simaudio integrated at 100wpc. I think it is the 3.3. It's on sale now as they came out with a new model. Fantastic sound and build. Will be about 3k. That is great because you support local dealers and get full warranty. Recent issues of stereophile have highlighted some dealers, if I recall, advertising the sale.

In terms of acoustics I think you need to decide if it is a dedicated listening space or living space. You would be amazed how much carpeting and drapery can do. Heavy drapery is better. Acoustic treatment is an art as much as a science. Go to. Gikacoustics.com and auralex.com. Great sites and they will do a remote room analysis. They have artistic panels that will look more like pictures than ugly panels. Start there. Also hometheater.com or soundandVisionmag.com have lots of good intro articles on the subject.