New to this hobby please help me

I’m near you in Poway and have a Marantz HT receiver. I went with in wall speakers and have a separate system in the same room for music. The in wall speakers sound  pretty good for music with a huge soundstage and good detail and separation. My system photos are posted here on Audiogon. If your goal is to integrate music with a home theater, I would consider a visit to Dynamic Sound System in Carlsbad. They seem to have more HT expertise than the other local dealers, and they also sell well regarded 2 channel gear. They carry a nice line of products. I bet they would give you a demo and solid advice. I demoed speakers there several years ago and had a good experience.

I went down this road back when HD DVD was still competing against Blu-Ray for dominance. I purchased a Yamaha RX-V1500 rated at 120 wpc. I used JBL 4312A’s on Sound Anchor Stands for front mains and Klipsch Heresy II’s for rear mains. Klipsch RC center and Klipsch Subs. A Sony Blu-Ray DVD and an Oppo 971 for SACD. It was fun for about a year when I decided I’d rather listen to 2.1 or 2.2. At that point I added a Modwright KWI 200 for some real power. My point is your Marantz is significantly under powered to run a pair of big speakers and certainly 5 plus speakers. If you continue down this path with the Marantz get some nice speakers that are easy to drive. Klipsch Heritage are easy to drive if you like how they sound. Or consider a higher power A/B SS or class D amp to power your front mains. If you get most of the speakers recommended you will quickly learn how underpowered that Marantz is. I lasted about 2 years and gave up. I went to low power tubes , then tried SS and now run 180 wpc tube mono blocs. As far as speakers I’ve had Zu, Klipsch and Tektons as they are high efficiency. But most people do not like how they sound. So if you must go down this road plan on trying to add a stereo amp to supplement your front mains. Whatever you do it will be enjoyable and a good learning experience. Happy Listening , Mike B. 

It's very pleasing to see your report on experiences of Speakers. 

Two impressions made of which there are still other impressions that can be made. 

I agree with the suggestion to consider a dedicated Stereo Amp.  I will add a link to one later that is not too costly and might get your attention. 

Op, as a person that was in your shoes 3 years ago, I will provide some advice based upon my experience. My advice will echo many on this thread. 
1. Do not settle for good enough. IMHO that works OK for HT, but not for 2 channel. I know this may be difficult, but try to figure out where you want to be at your ‘end game’, mid-fi ($K’s) or hi-fi (many $10’s of $K’s). Buy the best you can (preferably lightly used) with that end game in mind. 

2. Every thing matters. The weakest component in your string will drag down your best component. Again, buy the best you can. 

3. Speakers IMHO are the foundation of your 2 channel system. Electronics have a similar sound at a given price point. Speaker & phono cartridge sound has a much greater variance. Take your time with this choice. If upgrade is required, floor standers are more difficult to sell used as shipping charges can be prohibitive. 

This is a great hobby, but can be expensive to very expensive. Buying right can help minimize that expense. Enjoy!

To further explain, the GoldenEar speakers are a solid mid-fi speaker system. I stared with KEF R11’s, also solid mid-fi. I have recently upgraded to KEF Ref 3’s. Most would consider hi-fi speakers to start about $15K. I am slowly upgrading all my components to lower or mid hi-fi, with my DAC being next. A journey, but could have saved $K’s by buying to my tastes early.