Do my ears deceive me??

    Heard Vandersteens at Audio Perfection about 20 years ago.   They were good, but didn't really seem to bump on rock and roll.  Maybe they're much better now.   Will check them out.   When I bought my Mcintosh MX 134 in 2003, it was only like $3,300.   Prior to that it was Denon or Yamaha receivers, so to me the Mcintosh was a big step up, and I've loved it ever since.   I do have it setup for 5.1, but my rears are just outdoor Klipsch speakers from a previous house.  I kind of like movies, but not to the degree I did 10 to 20 years ago.   I'm fairly content with just listening to movies in 2 channel, cuz it sounds pretty good.   I have also looked at a new processor and/or receiver with Atmos.  But I doubt I'm gonna do 7 or more channels, as the system is in a bedroom. 

 I'm semi tempted to try an Arcam AVR-20, as they are discounted, and most people say they sound a quite a bit better than Denon/marantz/anthem for music.   But there is also a lot of complaints about buggyness and reliability with them.    A used Mcintosh MX 122 or 123 also piques my interest.  I'm pretty sure I could be happy enough with a receiver/processor if the stereo sound is about equal to my 134.   I most likely will buy either speakers this year, and a receiver/processor next year.   Or vice versa.   

once they're fixed... THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR SPEAKERS...!   

You have good gear that you love.  Keep it, cherish it, nurture it.

Be happy you have a sound that's great for your ears. 

I'm right with you: I recently did some auditioning and nothing sounded more appealing to me than what I already had!  Save the money.  Don't give in to upgrade-itis for no other reason than you have money in your pocket!  Be careful of watching reviews and even going on this forum... those are the seeds of discontent, and many on here just like to think spending more gets you more, and that's simply not the case, especially when you already have good stuff that you like.  Getting new stuff tends to lead to further discontent and then chasing other new stuff, forever and ever amen.  

Invest that $6000 into mutual funds, some no load total stock index fund , and let it ride and down the road you'll be glad you did.

soix.   I do need an equalizer.   I tip the treble and bass up on most music.   And even sometimes from song to song.   In my cars I've had alpine head units and subwoofers, and am always adjusting the bass a bit for each song.   Not that I'm a bass head, but I at least like to feel it a little bit, even on songs where bass isn't prominent.  While it may not be accurate, I much prefer it.   When I dropped off my 836's for repair, I demoed a Hegel with Paradigm founders 120 and medium end Kefs, and I was perplexed as to how this sounded good.  There was no air in the voices and it just didn't sound clear.   You could be right about maybe just doing a stand alone preamp.   But there could be times when  I do want surround.   Plus it would leave my 5 channel amp with 3 being unused.   

I hear ya curtdr.  But it is time to move up.   I don't buy/trade every 3 or 4 years like some.    I'm 51 and have a good amount of other money invested.  Whatever I buy will most likely be for 10 years or more.   But I do gotta buy it right the 1st time.  

@mofojo ”In what way have speakers had a tremendous advancement in the last 20 years,… Your Sonus Fabers are all paper driver… nothing new.?”

In sound quality performance. Saying Sonus Faber speakers use paper cones is a gross abstraction. It is like saying how a 286 PC chip no different than a contemporary PC chip… they are both on silicon substrate. The amount of technology is in the design and execution.

If you listen to a 20 year old set of say $20K speakers versus a contemporary set of same priced (in dollars corrected to 2003 dollars) the difference in sound quality is simply striking… tighter bass, better imaging, better more real sounding treble. In all components. For example, I remember replacing my 15 year old Threshold amp with a contemporary Pass amp… my jaw just dropped, very similar specifications, similar weight, form factor, but the sound quality nearly brought tears to my eyes.

This is the way to evaluate advancement in high end audio… listen to it. If you listen to it and you are not blown away, that is great… keep what you have. But, when you listen to what is now possible versus 20 years ago and want better more realistic sound, the case for new stuff that caters to your values in sound is overwhelmingly compelling.