2 ch HT/music...hope to hear from the 2 ch purists

I myself do not have separate systems for music & HT...however, this is my quandary.

I'm currently home in Los Angeles visiting my father. He & my late mother purchased a Denon 5700 and a couple Pioneer Elite combi players that include laserdisc (dont ...these were of course purchased a few years ago and have never been taken out of the box. (Mom got sick & passed away, so for years he was focusing on caring for her rather than putting a system together) He now wants help with speaker selection. I think that he definitely put the cart before the horse on this one. He says he really doesnt care about surround sound and hearing bullets whiz past him, and his collection of 300 or so Laserdiscs are all 2 channel opera & classical.

So here's the deal...I was thinking that he should just get the LR speakers (probably B&W 703's...he does want floorstanders) and a sub. I also suggested that rather than getting a center speaker, to get a new dvd player that does the "phantom center" and would also end up having SACD to boot. I have a feeling that he will be just as satisfied with watching movies in 2 channel mode as I am, so I think that the next step should be to dump the Denon AVR-5700 and get a good integrated amp or pre/power setup for better sound and stick with a 2 channel setup.

Price is not the major concern here, but he is the kind of person that doesn't "need" nor want the Rolls Royce's of stereos. Please no over the top recommendations...hoping to keep everything at the 6-8k point including everything but the TV...and dont worry...that will be a projection system so there won't be a big box inbetween the speakers.

If it were me, being that I am happy with my Bryston B-60/B&W cdm1nt setup, I would recommend a used BP25/3Bst combo.

He says he likes a crisp, detailed sound, but this is coming from a 75 year old guy that has been listening to a Fisher 500c with EMI speakers from the 60's so I think that might be a moot point.

I'm sorry for the length of this post, but any replies would be greatly appreciated...what do you guys suggest?

Thanks for all your help on this one

Ellery