Home Theater is one of those religious topics. Everyone has different ideas of what is good and not good. My hearing is different than yours, so what sounds good to me may not sound good for you and vice versa.
Many years ago I started going to a local high-end audio shop called Magnolia Hi-Fi. They branched out and opened a number of locations around the PNW and were eventually bought out by Best Buy. Some Best Buy stores will have a Magnolia Home Theater area.
I have a Denon AV Receiver and M&K 7.1 speakers. The M&K are good movie speakers, but not as good for listening to music. I'm OK with that.
I'm on my second set of M&K's and I love them (started with a 5.1 system and upgraded). They are "bookshelf" sized speakers and I have one over the TV, a subwoofer in the corner of the room and 6 mounted to the walls (front, side and back).
This really works well for me, but spent a lot of time in the store trying out different systems. When I started doing this, I used the Saving Private Ryan DVD as the audio for the beach landing near the beginning was a really good test case.
So, pick your favorite DVD/BR or two (or pick up an AV set-up DVD/BR) and go check out some systems. Just my
