Well, if you thinking of doing HT, then here are a few things to consider:
1. Most people don't care about sound quality when it comes to HT; they want boom and sizzle.
2. If you're doing just HT, then you're going to have to do custom install and whole house audio.
3. Your also going to have to learn to program remotes such as pronto, crestron, elan, lexicon, etc.
4. Most people who spend big bucks on HT/WHA(whole house audio) don't care about the sound; they don't want to see it (inwall speakers) and they want it easy to use.
I've been affiliated (I did the home automation)with a couple of local "hi-end" stores over the years. Their bread and butter is custom install. Retail makes up very little of the bottom line.
Example: you sell a guy a 42" plasma for $3000 which has about $600 in profit in it. You sell him the wall mount bracket, cables and install for an additional $2000 with about $1600 in profit. So, which would you rather sell - the tv or the install? Or, you can sell a customer $30000 of gear like Denon, Sony and Yamaha and then charge him $100000 for the install and programming of the remotes. I saw one customer spend over $1,000,000 on a system for his 22,000 square/foot mansion, which doesn't include the 7 car garage. The audio gear was less than $200,000 which including many crestron touch-screen panels.
Remember, High-end and audiophiles are a very small minority.
I've seen stores cater to just the very high end and go out of business and I've seen stores cater to the "entry level" of high-end and go under also. You have to strike a balance. Remember the guy that's spending $250,000 doesn't really want to rub elbows with the guy spending $500. Just like the guy spending spending $200 on a gourmet meal doesn't want to sit next to the guy spending $10 on the early bird bistro menu special.