confused and don't know what to do

Lurking here as I am in very similar position as OP.  Key differences are space and (guessing here, given his/her main speaker choice) budget.

My space is a big great room, a roughly triangular shaped walk out basement with one wall sub-grade, all walls finished with drywall, a little glass near the system (on an adjacent wine cellar), two ~ 6' windows and a sliding glass door on wall opposite system (40' away), 8' ceilings near system going to 9' about 14 feet from system (drywalled), totaling 1500sf of space that will have basic furnishings, a pool table and pong pong table (both tables at farthest distance from system).  Current plan for flooring is a high quality vinyl, though carpeting (or generous use of rugs) for about 1/3 of space nearest the system isn't out of the question.

I have one piece of electronics to use: a Meridian 559 two channel amp (300WPC), which I bought as I am considering a pair of huge, old school, power hungry fronts with lots of drivers (linear array) as I feel like these will have the penetrating power to make good sound at reasonable volume at the pool table area, 30' away.  I am leaning heavily towards the Anthem 5.1 integrated amp for it's all the latest video connectivity and "tuning" ability as noted above, and to preamp out through the Meridian to the fronts, and power the remaining HT speakers with the Anthem.  Will have a freestanding (table top) center and in-the-ceiling rear surrounds, and subwoofer (if necessary - which I think it is).  My budget for the integrated amp, all speakers and wire/connects is about $9,500, and that includes only ~ $1,300 for the pair of fronts I expect to buy used.

Thoughts?

Some type of used Sony receiver off craigslist should suffice.  For $6000 speakers, I would budget at least $60-$100 for a nice used Sony Surround sound reciever.  Something with at least dolby digital.  Finish off your system with some monster cable and maybe a carousel cd player, from sony or whoever, and you’ll be in audio nirvana.

Or, you could buy a soundbar and send me a check for $5000 for my invaluable information.

But seriously, $6000 speakers and receiver?  Thats like buying a Porsche GT3RS, then asking which gas to use, 85 or 87 octane...

You’re right bro, you’re confused

I agree that you have a challenging room. Bookcases full of books, CD's, records, and 'things' will soften that a lot. Persian carpets are cheap these days, and some are very beautiful. That too can soften the sound, and they can look elegant on a wall. WAF is good.

Speaking of WAF, my system has been improved by her as much as by me. My lady has better ears, as women tend to. Listen to yours.

I agree that you should try as much of the system at home before you buy - at least the speakers. You may find that speakers which sound wonderful - clear, brilliant, exciting -  in the dealer's specially treated room, sound unlistenably shrill in your highly reflective environment. That would be a lot of disappointment.

Better to err on the side of mellow sounding components that you can listen to for hours, without fatigue. It's going to be hard to nail this first time out, so it would be better to have something which is pleasant, if not perfect.

Just my $.02. Good luck!

And don’t spend big bucks on cables first time out. Get the cheapest you can find, then swap them out for better ones, one at a time, until you find something that is worth the cost. I use quality microphone cable (Canare StarQuad) with quality connectors (ETI, KLEI, Switchcraft), nothing too exotic, for interconnect, and continue to find better uses of money than cables - better electronics, better crossover components, better records. Maybe when I hit seven figures ...

I'm not an engineer who can provide reasons why one type of amplifier is better than another etc., but I can provide my experience with wanting a system that can both play music and be really good at home theater. I realize that brands like Marantz, Denon, and Yamaha are scorned by the music listening only crowd, but to me, there's no better or cheaper way to set up home theater than with one of their AV Receivers and then deal with the music listening part of the system with a separate amp. Just be sure the AV Receiver has enough power to drive the center and surround speakers. As far as the AV Receiver manufacturers go, be aware that after a merger with Denon, both Marantz and Denon were subsequently purchased by Sound United. I'm always concerned after mergers and acquisitions like these that cheaper components will be used by the new parent company to increase profits. If I were going to buy an AV Receiver, I'd look no further than Yamaha. They have not gone through mergers, they use high quality components, and have the best reliability ratings of any AV Receiver manufacturer. I'd go for at least a 7 channel amp like this one with a lot of bells and whistles, which would cost a great deal more to get in separates:  https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/av_receivers_amps/rx-a1080_u/index.html 
For just music listening, I own a pair of Magnepan 20.1s and I drive them with a separate 300 watt at 4 ohms Emotiva two channel amp. I also use the Maggies as the front speakers in the home theater setup. To my ears, the system works great for both music listening and home theater.