Once again, thanks for all the advice!
I guess I'm almost there in terms of having the necessary HT components. Frankly, while I'm very pleased with the M60/VP150 across the front, I must admit I was expecting an even better performance improvement when I upgraded from Nuance speakers (yes, I remember all the hype and ridicule about these things when I first bought them about 10+ years ago).
I kept the surrounds (Nuance SAT 1's), also have what I think is a decent sub (Sound Dynamics THS-10 with 100 watts RMS 0.04% THD), and fairly recent Sony DVD player (with HDMI). So, aside from the BR player, I wonder if it is the AVR that is the weakest link here.
Which leads to another question.....if the media player (CD, DVD or BR) merely "transfers" the digital info (the ones and zeros) to the AVR, why do some CD players cost in the thousands of dollars? Dumb question??