so many choices, yet so little to demo

I am somewhat in the same boat, although living in the Atlanta area, I have more choices closer than when I was in SW Florida. There are still many brands I hear about here, with 'nothing else comes close for ten times the price' endorsements from posters, that I can't find. I'm not completely opposed to internet direct, b-stock, or used, but would prefer to support local dealers. Ultimately though, even if a speaker of interest can be auditioned live, how it sounds 'there' versus how it will sound in my room is still little more than a guess. The dealers I've been too have setups that bear little or no resemblance to the room I'm using, or the equipment. Given that those factors are of great importance to the end result, isn't anything we buy little more than a shot in the dark until we get it home? Slightly educated shot in the dark, maybe, but still....
Much like any given item you could mention, us as individual buyers have differences in how we prefer to buy.

So you are buying FIVE speakers for 2500.00?

And you will be using Onkyo/Emotiva to drive said speakers?

First of all let's get this one out of the way. Any system combining HT and music duties must be configured to optimize one or the other. One or the other can sound very good, but whichever one is the "other" will sound only fair.

If HT is more important to you, buy five matching speakers and set them up in the room to enhance the video experience. The pre/pro/7 channel rig will be great for movies, and only marginal for music.

If music is more important and you are set on that budget, buy the best speakers you can for L+R and spend only a fraction on the other three. Then set up the main speakers where they sound best for two channel music (this will NOT be where they sound best for car crashes, off screen dialog, etc....). And ultimately you would want to delegate your signal processing to something other than the Onkyo/Emotiva combo.

So you have some choices to make, and along with those choices will come compromises.

Shakey

>> Any system combining HT and music duties must be configured to optimize one or the other...<<

I tend to disagree with this line of thinking. Good sound is good sound, period. If a system sounds good for either stereo or HT, it should sound good no matter what. It used to be that one could skimp on the surround and surround back channels because the information being reproduced was of the "ambience" type, crowd noises and such.

That is no longer true with well-mastered modern surround mixes for music. The single most important quality for a surround sound setup is that the speakers have the same or similar timbre or "voicing". This allows for a more coherent and seamless soundfield when the music is panned from left to right and front to back.

Having the same speakers at all positions, except for subwoofer of course, gives you this matching timbre.

And I can promise the original poster (OP) that the all-Gallo system recommended will meet this criteria perfectly. For the money invested it is a very good setup for both home theater and stereo.

I would recommend such an approach to start. If the OP wishes to maximize his stereo listening quality he could trade up to the larger Gallo Classico 3s or 4s later on as the budget allows. And this would still maintain the all-important matching timbre requirement...

-RW-

The very fact that the L+R speakers should closely flank the screen for the best HT performance prohibits their ability to image correctly for two channel audio. Not to mention that the screen is probably close to the wall, and the speakers should be several feet into the room for best audio performance.

Yeah, it might sound pretty good for both situations. But only one can be ideal.

I stand by that.

Shakey

Yes, it's true that it can be setup "ideal" for one type of use. But the fact that the OP is working with a $2500 budget would seem to indicate that he is not one who is willing to spend $50,000+ to obtain the "absolute sound".

Too many folks on these type of fora seem to have blinders on when it comes to what is acceptable sound quality for most folks. The fact of the matter is that speakers, electronics, and sources today are worlds better than what was available back in the 70s and 80s.

And it is quite possible to assemble a very credible system for both stereo and HT without spending crazy money....

-RW-