Next step in upgrading my home theater system??

Wow, that you for your advice. Trying to pick up on all of the basics is a bit challenging as every thread or magazine or website I can find the discussion begins with so much already being understood. I do realize at some point it gets crazy with nutty technology, $500 cables, $50,000 speakers ,etc., but I also realize that buying an all in one receiver and hooking it up to 5 entry level B&W speakers leaves me a lot of room for upgrading my system. I'm new to the spl thing and wouldn't even know where to begin with it without some serious instructions and understanding what I am trying to accomplish.

I took the advice and bought an amp, the new Emotiva XPA-5 and will use my Yammy receiver as the pre/processor for now. It should arrive on Tuesday and I will be back at it again. I will also invert my speakers tomorrow, I never even heard of that or even thought of it before.

Again, thanks for the advice and keep it coming!

-John

Forgot to add something. Since I am thinking ahead, what speakers should I consider, say in the $2000 range? I'm partial to B&W but for no reason and would be very open to listening to other brands that would suit my HT setup better. Any feedback on the Klipsch line?

John

All these variables add up to more ingreadients in the recipe! The more attention you pay to the variables affecting what you hear and how the system performs, the better the end results. That's the bottom line - maximizing your experience with what you can put into it, IMO.
An option in the future, should you want to stay with B&W (I sold the product for years, and they make some nice pieces - although I'm not really into B&W's pressently), is to consider their older THX stuff, or even using their dedicated center channel models for L/C/R's! This would increase sensitivity and efficiency likely (higher efficiency often means potentially more dynamic headroom), and you'd be using their Dappolito designed speakers, which would limit floor to ceiling reflections (if you have the speakers arrayed vertically), and get dual mid/bass woofers (like dedicated movie speakers), which increases dynamic efficiency - as well as frequency reinforcement, and likely stronger imaging. Using their basic stereo speakers (one mid/woof and on tweeter on top), in a passive design, limits dynamic capabilities a bit, softens focus and transient reinforcement (that's why multiple driver speakers tend to let you place them further appart, and still maintain a solid immage, have strong dynamic contrast, help cancel out distortion between partnered drivers, often have higher power handling, etc). Basically, certain designed speakers do better at portraying strong dynamic recordings from digital movie tracks, IME.
Anyway, hope the amp mates well with your Yamie, and the rest of your wires and gear! Let us know what improves - even what turning the speakers upside down (for the moment?) does to your perceived sound.