I recently built a wall of bookshelves for a client that included an area for a TV. On my suggestion we prewired everything for a 5.1 surround. Really nice people who liked the idea, but don't have the inclination to research this kind of thing.
When I pictured them going into Best Buy and getting wrangled, I offered my help and will probably build some of Danny Richie's offerings for the mains and surrounds. What I don't have a clue about is the current crop of AV receivers.
This will be a modest system, but I convinced them it could be done while not ignoring sound quality for audio only listening. Likely budget for the receiver is somewhere south of $1000, but they are flexible. I should add that the connected overall room is not small, but we'll be using the area directly in front of the TV as the theater within a room, so to speak.
He also indicated interest in hooking up a turntable, so inputs for that would be nice, but I doubt that's a popular request and we can handle with a preamp.
Here's the room, cabinets in but not completed
