The size of your room and what room its going to be used in. A large room would be better to have 5.1/7.1 full range speakers and a decent amp. That should provide an immersive HT experience. A smaller room may do well with a smaller speaker set like a Bose 5.1 cube set...however if you don't mind larger speakers, they will still offer the best performance.
What will you use it for. If you are just trying to get better sound for TV watching, a sound bar may be all you need.
Integration. Are you going to be adding the A/V reciever into the home network for internet radio or Air Play for iTunes or Apple products.
How many rooms do you want to run off of one amp. Multiroom amps can run diferrent "zones" at the same time while playing two different sources (radio in one room and a movie in another) It will even run outdoor speakers while running speakers inside.
How many devices are you going to add now and in the future. Most of todays devices use HDMI so you want to make sure you have at least 3 to 4 HDMI inouts. Also consider the possibility that you may want to use 3D devices later on.
Last, for speakers, consider the look you want to go for. In wall and in ceiling speakers are very clean looking, but require extensive installation. You can also get slim line speakers that hang on the wall, but also require install if you want the wires concealed. There are also wireless choices for rooms that you may not want to drill holes in a floor or you may not have an easy way to run wires.
I would recommend going in an talking to an associate or an installer. Bring a drawing of your room with the measurements including furntiure positions, TV placements, etc. This will help with planning of how many speakers you can have and also how much wiring may be needed. Also, come in with a budget in mind...try and stay within or around the budget. A couple hundred over your budget may not be a bad thing if it will provide good quality audio for a long time. Remember that you should have the speakers for a long time if they aren't abused. Your amplifier should be pretty relaible as well, however that technology will change more times than the speaker technology will and may need to be upgraded after a few years.
Hope that helps. If you have any questions please message me.
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