What size room are you going to be placing your system in? How wide is the listening area going to be? Is this going to be a dedicated theater room or a system that shares your family room or something like that Any aesthetic or size restrictions?
Right now KEF has some great deals. I would be looking at a pair of
KEF Q300s for the front left and right speakers, a
Q600 center speaker,
Q100s for side and rear surrounds, and a couple
Ci160s for the height Atmos speakers. KEFs subwoofers are not the greatest, so I would go with a pair of
Hsu VTF2 mk5s. For a good Atmos system, you will want speakers in the ceiling, not the sound bounce Atmos speakers that are sometimes mounted on top of the fronts. I would not even bother with an Atmos system if I had to resort to those.
For an AVR, I would be looking at Marantz, Yamaha, and Denon. I would be looking at 9.2 units for Atmos sound. I would be looking at a Denon AVR-X6200, Yamaha RX-A2020, or a Marantz SR6011. Pair any one of those with the KEF/ Hsu setup, and you are looking at a very good system for a bit under $5k.
For a good alternative system with monster bass would be a
Hsu Hybrid 3 7.1 system, but tack on another
VTF3 for the bass and use the
HIW speakers for in-ceiling height speakers. That will get you a fully timbre-matched system with amazing bass.
If you don't feel like cutting holes into your ceiling, you can use
SVS's elevation speakers. Or if you can handle something bigger, you might try using
JBL 8320s.
