Looking to get started. please help

Very good points! Placement, room, electronis and many other factors involved. Buying used is a exc. way to save $, but if I were to buy a used set of floorstanders I'd look for the factory shipping cartons. Blookshelf spks. are easiler to ship and hopefully the seller will know how to pack. A trial period is a good thing w/new spks., but you'll probably have to pay the return shipping if you don't like them. Shipping is not cheap. In your price range, there are not many floorstanders under $700. I've bought tons of equipment over the yrs. I honestly have to say, its a matter of finding which go well w/each other and it which space they are set-up in. You could very easily find used bookshelf spks. and stands for a song. Just for example, on Ebay used PSB 400's. Vifa drivers, warm sound, large cabinets and plain looking appearance. But, they will have a nice musical, warm sound. Same w/ Snell K's. Vifa Drivers. Musical. Many of these spks. have foam surrounds, so I'd look to see if they've been refoamed. Some spks. have rubber surrounds like ADS to name one. They are excellent spks. Tannoy are excellent spks also. You may even find an older discountinued new set of Fusion (3 or 4's) floorstanders. Mirage made Bi-polar spks. which have drivers front and rear. Fills the room w/sound, but IMO loses some imaging and freq. extension/accuracy. I wish you success in finding something the family will enjoy! Bill

I agree with Tonyangel, It is all about how the speakers sound in your environment. Given that you are outfitting a family room as apposed to an audio room, it comes down to flexibility in speaker placement and room treatment. Have you heard the Tektons? I am cautious about recommending speakers as one needs to hear for themselves, and they are environmentally dependent.

I have no problem envisioning that you will very much enjoy your upgraded musical experience. Go for it!

You could probably do really well at Best Buy. The Magnolia section of Best Buy would give you a great selection of equipment, including Martin Logan speakers. Your $1500 would go a long way there.