corner speakers

I realize that locating speakers in the corner of the room is pretty close to worst case, just to get that out of the way.
Background: My family has a cabin in the woods that my Grandfather bought in the '40's, an now multiple generations of families spend time there, so it's a concensus thing more than a WAF thing. However, for practical purposes, the corner mounted speakers have worked fairly well for the last 30-40 years...
I started with a Sansui receiver back in the '70's and upgraded to an NAD 40 watt receiver and Polk speakers in the '80's. We are the only people on our power transformer, so the power shouldn't be terrible. (I've just been using a TrippLite power block but might consider upgrading to a Furman PST-6.)  The source is primarily a homebrewed  Raspberry Pi music server using a RPi3+ and a HiFiBerry DAC+ Soundcard with ~ 20K flac files on a Sandisk SSD and the 7" touchscreen. Operating system is LibreELEC. There is a NAD semi-vintage CD changer for back-up.  The speakers are on ~32 Ft of #12 AWG oxygen free copper zip type cord.
We also run Bose 201's outside on the "B" speaker channel of the receiver.
The room is ~24' x 24' x 9', all soft wood.

Situation: Lost a channel on the receiver at the end of last season, no noise, just gone (it might have made some noise when I wasn't there, but I didn't get any feedback). I suspect a blown power transistor, and I have the schematics, but I have not had a chance to dig into it...
However, it has lit a fire to look at upgrading the stereo at the cottage.
Because the corner speaker placement is the only thing that works for our situation, I figured that I might as well disregard anything with a rear port, and only consider front port or acoustic suspension speakers.

After looking at reviews and forums, the cheap speaker solution seemed to be the ELAC Debut B6.2 2.0 @ $230/pr.

If I couldn't fix the old NAD, I thought I might just replace it with an Onkyo TX8020.

I was also considering replacing that old zip cord with some welded end budget Belden speaker cable from Blue Jeans, the 5000UE to be specific.

For more money, I should be able to get a more resolving speaker, within reason...

That brings us to the NHT C-3 @ ~$326/ea.

or the B & W 685 S2 $700/pr.

And at that point, I would probably just replace the old NAD with an Outlaw Audio RR2160 receiver.

I would appreciate any and all constructive opinions on this but particularly about the speakers.

We listen to Rock Blues Jazz Pop and a little Classical.

I have been positively impressed by the NHT speakers that I have heard, but I have never heard the C-3. 

The speakers in my primary stereo are B&W, but I have never heard the 685 S2. 

Thanks,

Bil Sheckler