If you search for posts that I've started, you'll come across one where I talked (rather extensively I think) about my strong disliking for an Athena+Yamaha setup (bright/bright). As you mentioned, this is also the case with Klipsch speakers and Yamaha receivers. Yamahas also don't acheive good REAL power ratings with all channels driven until you get into the higher end models. S&V reviewed an RXV-740 (I think) that advertised 75wpc and put out 38 with 5 channels driven, worse with all 6. You should look into offerings from H/K, Pioneer Elite (perhaps overkill for small speakers, but for future expandability...), Denon, Marantz, etc. You may also be able to find good deals on the discontinued NAD receivers (T742/52/62), I know that they are going for phenomenally low prices here. You might want to check out
http://www.saturdayaudio.com/specials.htm, that should give you an idea of what they'll cost. In any case, decide on your speakers first, then you'll have some idea of what to drive them with.
