Begin with acoustically treating the room and where you want speakers, long wall, short wall. Find the seating - chairs, sofa, loveseat, and determine where you're going to place equipment, then have at least one, maybe two 20A circuits installed. . Buy a pair of Sonos speakers or even Amazon Echo Studios. For less than $500 you'll have something to listen to and minimize any rush to buy anything major until you have all the pieces figured out. Now, start shopping for gear.
$50k - $80k Budget…Opinions please.
Long story short, I sold my beloved 2-channel to reduce family debt. In about a year-ish, I’ll be in a position to rebuild with a hefty budget. I loved my Harbeth + Pass Labs combo. My REL sub died before I really got to integrate it, so opinions wanted there as well. I fully understand the diminishing margin of returns when moving into some arenas, but that’s ok, opinions are strongly encouraged.
I listen to a lot of Miles Davis/Coltrane, Radiohead, Tool, Pearl Jam, Brent Cobb. I’ve often preferred “organic” or neutral, not sure how technical that is.