Installation advice

[xanadu]

I am helping a guy get a stereo system going. He has is 2 front and 2 rear in wall speakers already installed for his home theatre system. I've got to get him a center channel and a sub. He also has 2 in wall speakers in another room. The wires come out of a cabnet and most of them are labled. Im sure I can figure out the unlabled ones. He also has around 4-6 "rock" speakers in his back yard. And I believe the speaker wires for the rock speakers come from inside the house.
What I want to do is have the one receiver control all the speakers in the house as well as the outside. What components will I need to make this work besides the receiver? I suggested a 7.1 surround system that will go to the theatre system and I want to just use the one receiver for all the speakers around the house and outside the house. And also I want to get him a remote control that he can control through out the house as well as the outside speakers.
The guy is willing to pay around $800-$1000 for the receiver. Any ideas would be great.Thank you all. -Greg

[Mr Peabody]

The Onkyo TX-805, Is just under $1k and will control 3 zones. I've never done multi-zone set ups, so I don't know if you need additional amps or not. You can see this receiver and maybe find out the answers to some of your questions at www.crutchfield.com

In wall speakers are not the best but what is done, is done. To work with them, you need to see if you can maybe do the same in wall for center, or if this brand may have a timbre matched box center. It is optimum to have all the speakers in the surround match for seamless sound effects panning from speaker to speaker.