Hometheater 2.0

Welcome - That sounds like a pretty decent setup to me as is. To get any suggestions you'll probably need to be a bit more specific regarding where you see room for improvement. I would probably start on the audio side.

 

I would definitely start with audio. You can get a significant improvement from those cube speakers you have now.

 

I don't have personal experience with Monitor Audio speakers, but they seem to be highly regarded, and will most definitely be a huge improvement from the cubes you have now.

The Yamaha receiver is a bit minimal. I don't know what's available to you, but the Denon AVR-X3500H is available in the US on closeout for a great price. Only a bit more than the Yamaha is here. Currently here, the Yamaha is $500 and the Denon is $600, and it's a much better receiver. If you have similar deals in Germany, I'd check it out. Buying last year's model receiver is a great way to get an excellent deal.

 

Those appear to be excellent speakers. A down side is they are 4 Ohm, which is a real challenge for receivers to power. Marketing will tell you it's no problem, that you should adjust this or that setting, but impedance that low is just rough on amplifiers. Don't get me wrong, all the speakers in my main HT are 4 Ohm, but I have big, external amps capable of 4 Ohm powering them. I don't know that one of the receivers you mentioned will be better than the others. Just look for the features you want. I would also make certain there is abundant ventilation around the receiver, because low impedance speakers will cause it to heat up. I'd probably look into an active (fan powered) ventilation unit to help keep the receiver cool. In the US there is a brand called AC Infinity, but I don't know what's available in Germany.

 

I've used AC Infinity to cool my main amp for years. Highly recommended.

 

I've never used one, though years ago I did have a DC fan set up simply to more air through the cabinet. My power amps are pretty much out in the open. However, I did a complete update to my livingroom system, and even though I don't play it very loud most of the time, and the receiver is in an open stand, there's only about 1 5/8" above it. I noticed that even when I'm just playing casual TV watching volume (with 6 Ohm speakers) it gets really hot in there. So, I'm finally getting an AC Infinity unit for it. It's a fairly new Marantz SR7012, so that's a pretty expensive piece of equipment to be baking like that.

 

I seriously bump my stuff. If the system can't keep up then it gets upgraded.

For me AC Infinity presented an inexpensive solution to a [potentially] expensive problem.

 

It’s installed and programmed. Sometimes it doesn’t take much airflow to solve the problem. I’m not sure it’ll ever go past the slowest speed. Maybe up one speed if I crank it up. I’m going to monitor the temp on my front amp downstairs. I do hammer that system from time to time, especially with music.

 

Congrats! For me it was basically cheap insurance for my prized components.