Welcome choff!
If starting out with in-room listening, this is the order I'd proceed with:
1.) Read Floyd Toole's "Sound Reproduction" 3rd edition, it's the seminal work to understand how speakers behave in-room;
2.) Pick the room to be used (bigger is better, but shape is important as is acoustic isolation, and having it dedicated to audio if possible);
3.) Select speakers next to fit the room and your tastes;
4.) Find the appropriate amp for the speakers;
5.) Decide on source (vinyl or digital, if digital hi-res locally stored or streaming);
6.) Acoustically measure the room/speakers to find bass peaks/dips;
7.) Treat the room (call GIK here at Audio Circle);
8.) If still a royal mess or you just don't like how it sounds add DSP (but only as icing on the cake).
I'm a speaker/room guy and a firm believer that those two make up the lion's share of how a system sounds and that for best performance they must compliment each other. Amps serve the speaker, nothing else. Source is a matter of preference. Room acoustic issues are best solved in the physical realm (room size/shape, speaker selection, setup, and treatments), not electronics (EQ or DSP).
I'm a big believer in the teachings of Toole, Geddes, and LeJeune (look for Audio Kinesis here at Audio Circle). They promote use of 3 or 4 subs, placed near corners, to reduce in-room bass peaks/dips and of controlled directivity speaker design (such as from Amphion, Dutch & Dutch, JBL, or Kii) to reduce room/speaker interaction. Am also a proponent of active speaker design (low voltage input to crossover that sends signals to separate amps, one per driver) as technically superior and offering much better performance.
Been at this for nearly 50 years. For the last 14 years I've had a dedicated well insulated 8ft x 13ft x 21ft study (audio in the front, office in the back), active/single driver speakers, 3 subs, 10 GIK absorption panels, 3 randomly filled tall bookcases, and <500 Hz DSP in one form or another. Currently run a NAD M10 "streaming amplifier", commissioned floor standing transmission line single driver speakers, and (3) 10 inch subs in a mid-field setup. My focus is primarily on small ensemble jazz and classical at moderate levels but am a firm believer that all high-end systems at a minimum must cover 30-20,000 Hz at peaks up to live music sound pressure levels of 105-110 dB.
