You are in a perfect position to avoid a lot of mistakes and in the right place for advice IMHO. There are people here with a lot of knowledge to share. I’m no expert but I’ll take a shot at helping you out. The first thing I’d recommend would be that whatever brand of speakers you choose make them identical. In other words don’t put big towers up front (a lot of people do this for the look) and then put smaller surrounds in the back. Even if they are voice matched to each other you will notice a difference when the sound pans around the room. You may want to make an exception for the center because of size issues(I did) but the rest should be the same speakers. I would also recommend 2 subwoofers instead of 1. This serves to cancel the standing wave effect and makes the sound a lot less directional. So far I’ve heard nothing but good things about the LFM 1 Outlaw sub and the price is hard to beat. Hope this helps

Lasher