Just a point of terminology. You want a good sounding home theater, correct?
Home theater and two channel audio systems typically have very different goals. Good sounding home theater, in general is much easier to achieve since you are distracted by the video. Most of us that are serious about audio separate our audio and home theater systems. You can see my systems under my UserID.
Assuming you are interested HT. Then the first step would be get a great sounding surround processor. I would look at NAD and at the $2K range. These guys try and achieve great sound, not just add a lot of buttons and functions you will not use. It will give you great audio with lots of punch. Then look to spend $1K on a set of 5 speakers (you can add more later). You want them all the same brand so they have the same sound. If you want to go even higher level spend the $1K on the front three and put some really cheap one’s in the back. You can upgrade the rears and add others later. KEF speakers as a brand comes to mind.
The center channel is REALY important … it Carrie’s 85% or more of the content. So you want your highest quality up front.