Whole house system

My old whole house audio is dying, and it’s time to replace it all. What I want to accomplish:

Primary source will be our PC. We do not have or want a TV; we watch movies on the PC & large monitor, and listen to music mostly at background volume levels. Music files will be stored in Apple itunes. I want to be able to control volume and on/off for 3-4 zones remotely, preferably with a smartphone.

The receiver I’m most interested in is the Onkyo TX-NR717. I chose this model because it has 3 powered zones, can be controlled by a smartphone, and is in my price range. I haven't bought anything yet, so I’m open to substitutes on everything.

Zone 1 is a 15’x24’ family room with the PC/monitor. I want 5.1 surround, and I’m most interested in Mirage Nanosat 5.1, connected to the surround outputs on the receiver.

Zone 2 is a living/dining/kitchen about 15’x35’, lazy L shaped.

Zone 3 is a bedroom 14’x16’.

I would like to have a subwoofer in Zones 2&3. Zones 2&3 will be music only.

I want the new speakers to be less conspicuous than my old ones, particularly in zones 2&3. I like the small Nanosats, but the sub with the 5.1 system does not have “speaker out” connections. I’m thinking about buying just the satellite speakers, and separately buying different subs with speaker in/out. I would connect zone 2 and zone 3 on the receiver to the subs in those rooms, then connect the satellites to the subs. Also, especially in zone 2, I want more than two satellite speakers. Can I connect the speaker out wires from the sub to a multi-channel speaker selector and add more satellites after the sub? Is there a better way of doing this? Will this even work?

To complicate this further, if possible I’d like to add a 4th zone outside with a pair of outdoor speakers. Could I use a speaker selector to add the outdoor speakers to one of the zones, even if that zone will have another selector after the sub as described above? I realize I’d have to switch it on/off manually at the selector, but the volume could still be controlled with a smartphone, couldn't it? Another option would be to have some sort of either/or switch that would select between the bedroom & outside: I don't see a scenario where we'd need both of those zones playing at once.

My budget for this is around $2000; more if it makes a big difference, or if it simply can't be done like this. The above mentioned components can be bought for that.

Any guidance you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Its been 25 years since I did the old system, and I'm having a hard time catching up. I've learned a lot snooping around this forum, and it seems like a great place to find unbiased advice. Thanks!

I've looked at the Sonos system: it would work perfectly, but it's a budget buster. If I were keeping my old speakers, I'd just replace the receiver. But I want to get rid of the clunky boxes built into my walls. The $500 price tag for the Connect Amp alone is roughly what I can spend per room. A friend's Sonos system is what got me started thinking about replacing mine in the first place. But once I saw the price - 3 subs & 4 speakers = $3500 - I got cold feet. And having R&L channels in one box wouldn't give me the sound quality satellites will for less money.

I'm not familiar with how that works. Like I said, I'm having a hard time catching up... there's so much out there and I'm not very tech-savvy. I have a son-in-law who is, but I'd like to narrow this before I bother him.

I think there's a simpler solution. I'll buy a receiver with smartphone app control, and a speaker selector for the whole house audio. Then get a surround sound card for the PC and buy a set of powered speakers for that.

I'm trying to understand Airport. I get the speaker side with Airport Express, I'll either need powered speakers or an amp+speakers in each zone. But I don't get the source side: do I even need a receiver? Do I just need Airport connected to the network and add zones with Express?

Thanks for the replies so far. I'm learning...

Then I guess I'd use the main for 5.1, and add a speaker selector on zone 2 to supply the other rooms. This is a dumb question, but I've never had a AV receiver with surround. Can the main be switched off and only play zone 2? What's even dumber is I asked the guy at Best Buy, and he said yes. But when I asked him to show me on a receiver, he couldn't figure out how to do it.

I've been rethinking this whole project. Get a receiver with powered zone 2. Make the living/dining/kitchen the primary zone with 4.1. Run a speaker selector off zone 2 with two zones, one for the bedroom, the other outside. The family room would run directly from the PC with powered speakers. The only thing I don't like about this is I won't have a remote app volume control for the iphone that controls the receiver and computer speakers at the same time.

Does this mean the 717 could have 4.1 primary, powered zone 2, and pre-outs from zone 3? I could run the powered computer speakers from pre-out zone 3, but... will I be able to browse the Internet on zone 3 while playing music on the other zones?

Another question born out of ignorance: to get 4.1 stereo, do I use R&L front and R&L rear? Will the music mix be the same front and rear? I don't want surround sound in that room, I need 4 speaker stereo.

I've been reading the online (100 page) manual for the 717, and I must say I'm a little overwhelmed. This is way more complicated than my old receiver. I read the instructions on configuring and controlling zones 2&3, but couldn't find anything on how to switch off the main while leaving zone 2 play. I suppose once I have a receiver here and can play around with it, the manual will be easier to follow than trying to read it and look at pictures on the internet. But I don't want to buy something and find out it won't work.