Hopelessly Confused

Is the $1195 mentioned in your original post the high limit of what you want to spend?  That would be helpful to give you more guidance.  I don't think I'm the one to do that, however.  I just don't know that area all that well to give you recommendations.  I have an Anthem MRX 710 in my family room that powers a surround system.  I have Paradigm Studio 20 V2 speakers as the mains and smaller Paradigms for the rear channels, center channel, and sub.  The sub was part of my original surround system and has served us well for about 19 years.  Other speakers were bought used on the audio sites as our first pairs of Atoms crapped out.  My wife likes it OK.  She doesn't get too excited about the sound--much more interested in the picture.  My good system is in a dedicated room in the basement.  There is a big difference between the 2 systems.  Most likely, others will be able to give you more help--at least, a few components to check out.  

There IS a super set of speakers you could get for under $1000 on a couple of the sites.  If you have any interest in a pair of speakers you may never have the urge to upgrade, PM me.  I've heard these personally at the maker's house and they are the real deal if you like detailed sound, very good bass, and a near live experience, if desired.  They will not break up at VERY LOUD levels and have zero listener fatigue.  They have the dynamics of a horn speaker, but the tone, and clarity of pretty much any speaker you'd like to name.  NO NEED for a sub either.  They would pretty much scare the hell out of you in those places of a scary or tense sudden dynamic shift during a movie scene.  

Bob

Vincent sv500 is a decent integrated with very good bass performance at a good price (made in China) . I've owned it. Made my klipsch forte iiis sound like dual subwoofers.  It started to sound a lot better with an expensive power conditioner in front, though, so take that into consideration when budgeting. 

@brian_holmes

I was in your exact same situation, looked at the Parasound Classic, but didn’t need the included phono stage or DAC, so purchased the ZPre3 preamp. Am extremely happy with it, and cheaper than the Classic without the above. It does have HT bypass, so the Yammy is only used in 5.1 for TV, and gets passed through the Parasound to my amp (driving my mains) in HT mode. All 2 channel sources goes through the Parasound ZPre3 

My music sounds so much better not using the Yamaha as the pre. You won’t believe the difference, in a good way. I didn’t want to believe it would make the difference it has, but it did.

More power doesn’t mean more clarity. The first few watts count for a lot more than do the last few watts.

Golly. I’d find the prospect of reading that ultra-long thread daunting. I’m not saying that it doesn’t have value and that you won’t learn from it, but when I started reading it I began to have many questions. Frankly, I found the number of amplifiers swapped in and out incredible. It made me wonder about the conclusions that are thrown out in that thead. In my 66 years of experience there are often caveats and nuances that are hard to convey.

I suggest you start with some fundamental research - there’s a wonderful, easy-to-follow, easy-to-understand white paper on the SandersSoundSystems website titled something like "tubes vs. solid state". I encourage you to read it. There are many factors that determine how a piece of equipment will sound and one of the most essential elements is the synergy of the system into which it is placed. A second factor that should not be overlooked is *expectation*. It is possible to COMPLETELY ENJOY what you have and not upgrade anything. It is also possible to upgrade a piece of equipment, or multiple pieces of equipment in a system - all to highly rated, highly regarded stuff - and find yourself so anxious about the process and anxious about the stuff that you can’t even relax. Your worry ends up robbing you of perceiving whatever the equipment is able to convey.

Chasing better sound can be fun. It can be expensive. It can be frustrating. Patience, a willingness to disregard the conventional wisdom and "authoritative reviews" or the paid reviewers can be helpful. Also, a humble willingness to learn is helpful.

One thing I have learned is that a high quality preamp an make a huge difference.

Good luck in your efforts! and Best Wishes!