Have I got the wrong amp? or the wrong speakers?

I am proud to have never owned anything Akai.
Yecchh

Wow,push the pause button! There's so much that's not even being talked about or asked. I've heard some of the best gear ever sound like garbage AND some of the worst gear sound surprisingly good. It all comes down to how it's placed in the room AND if the room has any good possibility of decent interaction in sustating good performance.
Speakers are everything. And placement in the room can make or break the performance. The amp or receiver has a factor but it's nowhere as inportant as the first two.
Have you had other equipment (speakers) in this room setting before? What size is the room? If you clap your hands is the room have bright relections or is it dead?
The best speaker for one room may not be the best speaker for another. As an example; horn loaded speaker tend to work better in corners while wide dispersion speakers work best away from corners. Bass loading is often tuned by the distance from the walls or corners. Sometimes the distance or direction across the room can make or break the sound.
While your receiver isn't great, it has very little to do with the sound you are experiencing. Move your speakers around. try oputting them on stands. Maybe tyou have another pair of speaker to stack them on as stands.
There are RTA apps you can get for your phone as well as signal generators. If you have two phones, suggest putting the signal generartor through the system while viewing the RTA in the room for results. Compare it to what you HEAR.

Thanks everyone.   What a vibrant community you are!

First --
It is not my fathers receiver.  It is the same model, my mother threw his one in a skip bin after he died (ouch)  It might actually be his one - but thats a very long shot :-)
Nonetheless its a sentimental piece and I will keep it on display.  Very insightful of you athrillofhope.

Second --
I have an AV Receiver 7.1, paradigm speakers in exactly the same (crowded) spot and they sound great.  But no good for vinyl/audio.  Which is why I started this whole spree.

Third --
I got a loan of a Yamaha A-S1000, option to buy.  Swapped it in --- its better but not that much better.  So I accept that the room & placement needs attention. 

Don't overthink this and run down a few rabbit trails trying to make that receiver work properly, unless you enjoy all the testing and placement and have some time to kill

I concur with MC and the others that have already indicated the receiver is your pain point

I second the suggestion of the PS Audio Sprout integrated amp, $600ish and they'd probably give you a few bucks on the trade in of the Akai

I run a Sprout on a 2 channel B system with a pair of KEF Q750s for my TV and streaming Tidal and Qobuz via Bluetooth from my phone

It's a great price performer, easy set up, not fussy and SQ is worthy

For extra added pleasure a good middle of the road power and speaker cables was like putting big boy pants on the Sprout

Try some solid core 14 gauge Romex cable for the speakers. Change the interconnect if it's a cheapo one.