Front Stage Advise

Soix3,
The room is still studs only. No insulation, electrical, or sheet-rock.
To answer your questions in order:

• I would say almost always multi channel AV. We are hoping to watch some television shows and sports in it as well.
• We are really hoping for a theater quality experience with the audio that is powerful and responsive. Whether it be movies or concert blu-rays we want to have a great experience, not a good one. We like lots of action movies from the 70s and 80s classics to modern films as well.
  
• As far as amps or processors, I have no equipment yet. Amps seem to be a complex topic for me. There appears to be a wide variety of "quality" that I am trying to figure out. The specs seem to mean almost nothing, the quality of the power appears to be the main item a buyer should consider.
  
• Because of the size of the room, we are strongly considering a front stage of "box/free standing" speakers with the remaining four surrounds (RS/LR/RR/LR) being architecture (In-Wall) speakers. Our main concern and budget was towards the front stage.

We are really hoping for a theater quality experience with the audio that is powerful and responsive. Whether it be movies or concert blu-rays we want to have a great experience, not a good one.

Given what you’re looking for I thought of ATC speakers. They make professional speakers frequently used in recording studios and are built to generate clean and powerful sound — just what you want in a movie experience. And Anthem makes home theater electronics with audiophile roots and are a cut above the more mainstream products out there IMHO. And SVS makes great subwoofers with high quality/$ and also offer exceptional customer service. So, given your budget and using these brands, one option would be:

ATC SCM19 Monitors - $4000/pr
ATC C3C Center speaker - $2200
Anthem MRX 1120 A/V Receiver - $3500
SVS PB2000 Subwoofers (2 of them) - $1700/pr
TOTAL - $11,400

If you really want to be blown away with a special movie experience, this system would do it IMHO. In looking around I found a review in “Secrets of Home Theater and HiFi” from this past May that actually used this receiver and speakers (different sub though) so you can read their impressions FWIW. Anyway, just one option for you to consider, and best of luck building your new theater.

soix3,
Thank you for recommendation. I will look in to it right away. Do you have any advise on amps? Thanks again!

The Anthem MRX-1120 is a receiver so it does all amplification as well as all the signal processing in one box, and given that it worked well in the review mentioned previously it may well be all you need.  If you want to go the separate amp route I’d still recommend going with the MRX-1120 and use it to power the surround speakers and a d-sonic M3a-1200-3 three-channel amplifier ($2175) for the more critical front three speakers.  But, frankly, I think you’ll be thrilled with just the 1120, and you can always add a separate amp later if you still feel the need.  Hope this helps. 

Cheers soix3,
Thanks for all your help!