Speaker recommendation for Home Theater

I'm with @m-db on this.  If this isn't for critical 2-channel listening and more for just enjoying movies and TV, you can spend less than one third of your budget on speakers and still have one damn good sounding home theater.  I say this because I've done it twice already. 

IME, if you get the center speaker and sub(s) right, you're already a good way to a great HT.  I'm very partial to 3-way center speakers where the tweeter is positioned above a dedicated midrange driver as it seems to pay dividends in both vocal clarity and lateral dispersion -- two of the biggest failures of many center speakers IMHO.

Aperion Audio offers good center speakers with this configuration, and I built one HT with their entry-level Intimus line and another with their upscale Verus line, and both were superb in delivering a dynamic and immersive HT experience.  They're offering a 20% discount, so the Verus towers, center, and monitors for the rear can be had for about $3200.  Add an SVS PB2000 sub (that goes down to 14Hz) and you've got your 5.1 speakers covered for about 4 grand.  Even driven by a sub-$1000 Yamaha AVR, this system sounded incredible to the point that it left me craving nothing more.  In fact, we're now redoing our basement that will include a home theater, and despite having a budget to spend more I see (or hear) no reason to do so.  Plus, Aperion offers a long and truly risk-free trial period (they pay all shipping both ways if necessary) and their customer service is top notch.  My only hesitation is that I can build a similar system with a Rhythmic sub from Ascend Acoustics for about the same price.  I think their center speaker may be even better than Aperion's, but not sure it's gonna pass the WAF test. 

Anyway, just some personal experience and trying to save you some $$$.  Best of luck in whatever you decide. 

"Sorry Soix we beg to differ. We have a full home theater room with some state of the art components and when you have a real home theater setup the experience is transcendent."

Shocker.  A dealer, shamelessly again trying to use this site to denegrate an honest member's post to push his own business.

"We started with much less expensive gear and over time upgraded each level of the system and as the system's components got better so was the realisim and enjoyment of watching a movie."

Well good for you.  And DUH!!!

"You also fail to comprehend that most of the excitment of theater is sound which is ususally very well scored. Music is an integral part of the soundtrack for most movies and creates the excitment much more then the visuals."

I do???  Holy crap, I didn't even know that!!!

"Just turn off the sound and watch the drama go away."

I don't think this absurd statement even deserves a response. 

"For example we started with PSB Syncrony loudspeakers which were very good $5k speakers when we repalced them with Kef Ref 3 the sound was far more realistic and dramatic, the difference between the two loudspeakers was self evident."

You sell KEF right?  Are we to take this as an unbiased recommendation for a product that YOU SELL???

"That is also not to say that a good 5.1 or 7.1 or 11,2 system can't do a good job reproducing music as well."

Whew.  That's good to know.

"Our reference home theater uses a $9k Audio Conrol Maestro M9 which sounds glorious and did sound way better then the $3k Anthem AVM 60 which sounded better than a $4k Marantz."

No way!!!  Spending 2-3x more money gets you better sound???  INCREDIBLE!!!  WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT??? 

"Don't knock the experience of really good theater until you've heard one."

Why would you even assume I haven't heard a really good home theater?  Are you the ONLY ONE who knows what "really good" HT sound is???  That's presumptive, arrogant, and absolutely wrong on every level.  The fact is, I've not only heard, but sold, big dollar home theater systems including top ATC speakers.  I personally met one of ATC's lead engineers who came over from the U.K. and helped us put together our in-store HT demo system where the REAR speakers were active 50s.  Suffice it to say, I know what a "really good" HT sounds like, so save your condescending salesman crap for someone else. 

The fact is, you've never heard the system I heard in the room I heard it.  Could it be better?  Of course!  But as I sat there listening to and watching movies on a 65" LG OLED screen, the experience was completely immersive, incredibly dynamic, and thoroughly enjoyable on every level.  The sound seemed perfectly suited to the quality of the visual experience such that it came across as seamless without any exaggerations or omissions that took away from the performance.  Of course it could've been "better!!!"  It can ALWAYS be better depending on how much you're willing to spend.  But the OP made this pretty clear statement, that I took to heart and was trying to respond to with a helpful suggestion...

"I also don’t want to spend money just to spend money. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate craftsmanship and artistry as much as the next obsessed audiophile but i also want to focus on value. What sounds the best for the $$ since I have a dozen other projects around the house that demand attention. If I can spend $15k total and get a great system I’m good."

Basically, I'm in the same situation as the OP. Got two kids at home who I like to spend time with and who I'd like to send to college, and I don't really have the time to sit down and listen my dedicated 2-channel system these days.  So if I can recommend a VERY satisfying HT system that I've personally heard and that can be very entertaining for his family yet possibly save him 10 grand for other things, that's what I'm gonna do.  SHAME ON YOU. for denigrating my well-meaning recommendation GEARED DIRECTLY TOWARD THE OP's STATED GOALS (and a system you've never heard BTW) in favor of your own business interests you constantly push here on this site.  If they see fit to allow you to market your own business here that's one thing, but when you constantly come back and belittle recommendations here by honest participants with no financial interest to push your own personal business, that is just WRONG WRONG WRONG.  You've been warned of this in the past several times on this site, but clearly you have no shame.  Keep it up buddy.  At some point you WILL get banned from this site. 

Sorry to the OP for this unfortunate sidetrack, and I hope the information on this site still proves helpful to you.