Running those speakers with that Onkyo would be kind of like buying a Ferrari and taking it to Pep Boys for some cheap tires. That is a huge waste of money. I would not buy those speakers unless also I had several thousand dollars to buy a top-quality preamp and amplifier to drive them.

Garbage in....garbage out.

That would be a terrible mismatch!

You say you have $3000 to spend.

I suggest that you put $1000 of it into a NAD T758 receiver, which will sound way way better than anything from Onkyo, Yamaha, Pioneer etc.

Then buy a pair of KEF Q900 speakers for $1700 or a pair of PSB Image T6 speakers for $1300 and you will have a HUGE improvement in your sound quality.

Those are both excellent speakers and will sound great with the NAD receiver.

NO speakers will EVER sound really good with that Onkyo.

Perhaps your son would like the Onkyo and the old speakers...lol?

P.S.- Don't make the mistake of comparing the power ratings of the Onkyo to the NAD receiver. NAD gives honest RMS power ratings for ALL CHANNELS DRIVEN, which Onkyo will not and does not even give. The power ratings Onkyo does give are fudged and deceptive. The NAD T758 has plenty of power and will SOUND MUCH BETTER!

I think the NAD T758 would  last you a long time, and those are excellent speakers I recommended.

I had the Image T6 speakers for two years and liked them very much. I have since upgraded to the Vandersteen Treo Speakers, but they are $6500. The T6 speakers are very very good; hard to beat for much under $3000. B & W certainly does not have anything for under $2000 that competes, IMO.

But you really should not do anything before getting rid of that Onkyo. The really good-sounding AVRs are NAD and Cambridge Audio, so got one of those first and then get the best speakers you can afford.

I also have my system in a dual purpose room and agree with all the post that the AVR is going to significnatly hurt your audio quality. With that said, you can look at getting a good pair of speakers. I've listened to the luitos and thought they were nice speakers, but i tend to prefer PSB, I think they are great value. I would defenitly take a listen.

But with that said, this post is really system condifguration based. As long as your AVR has 7.1 pre-outs (i know marantz tends to do this on thier AVRs) you can buy a external 2 channel amp or better yet an intergrated amp or Pre-Pro with a home theater bypass. Basically this lets you set up a proper 2 channel system. You can get the external DACs, and soruce devises you need to make the speakers shine and the best part is your 2 channel system is exclusive from the AVR. When you want to watch TV just hit a button and the pre-pro or amp will just passed the gain and singnal from the AVR to the amp and speaker.

It sounds complicated but if you have even a basic universal remote it just hitting on button.

These are 2 great speakers that are easy to drive. On the JM, I have heard them w/ Arcam electronics.

The SF, sounded excellent w/ Rogue Audio gear. Happy Listening!