BTW. I have already pre-wired the ceiling - the contractor team came in Saturday and installed the dry wall. It is set up for a 7-speaker system. Left, right, and center front, two 'wing' speakers in the middle of the room and two toward the back. All locations are fixed as I have constructed back boxes for them all to prevent sound leakage into the living room above. The I-beams ate a full 14" in height, which allowed for my including considerable sound insulation. The boxes are made if 1/2 inch MDF, lined on the inside with 2" acoustic foam, wrapped outside with 4" of rock wool, and then all that is surrounded by thick fiberglass insulation. I wired these using 14 gauge Audioquest.
I will be able to use all my old stereo equipment save the Onkyo receiver. While good for a basic stereo, it is antiquated (1999) and will thus be of no use to me for this room. That means I will also be looking to purchase a new (proper AVR) receiver to power whatever I wind up with.
Regarding the latter, I have been familiarizing myself with ARCAM, Rotel, Anthem, and NAD. I noticed, however, that these are getting in the beyond my current reach price-wise. The Rotel I was shown, in particular, at $5,000, is more than I really want to spend. I was hoping to remain closer to the $3,000-$3.500 range.