[JohnW]

Getting the sound to three parts of the house is going to be the tricky part. There's a whole lot of "second zone" receivers," and a couple of "third zone" receivers, but alone they cost more than your dad's budget.

You may want to encourage him to go with in wall/inceiling speakers. They're reasonably priced, and much more stealthy than even small speakers.

Oh, and Bose BAD. VERY BAD. Crap construction, crap sound.

$2500? I dunno, man--if he's "picky" about sound...he's going to have to make compromises to get it at that price.