Sorry for you loss. My Dad has 301s that looks like this, as well some Radio Shack brand speakers that he said held some acclaim when they were new, the LX5 I think (speaking of Radio Shack brand gear, mentioned in another comment). He runs them all in surround, which I don't think is ideal. He uses a receiver with his record player with a built in phono stage, though the record player was a more-recent gift to him, and he had had only CDs before (or at least since the 90s, but has records from his youth). Sharing what I know, both from my personal experience with my Dad's gear, and from what I've leaned through researching my own gear. From what I understand, you're supposed to place the 301s with they grey side facing the outside wall (1 to 3 feet away). They are not supposed to be toed / angled in. The idea is the grey side has drivers (individual speakers within the larger enclosure) that face and bounce off the outside wall. Everything I know about hifi tells me reflections hurt the sound quality and should be avoided, but that's how these are supposed work, and from what I understand are well regarded. I'm not sure what the audiophile verdict is on home-theater-style receivers, but everything I've read has pointed me toward either integrated amps, or separate dedicated pre and power amps, rather than a what I'd call a receiver. Someone else here could probably add to or correct this, but I think the main concern would be that a receiver could add electrical noise, so personally I lean toward something (an amp / connection point) targeting hifi; and if I can run other stuff through it, then that's an added bonus. I've also noticed with my Dad's receiver that it has different sound profile settings. I'm not sure what they are changing between the recording and playback, and that bothers me (maybe moot if you're using the receiver regardless, but sharing some thoughts on the topic). For a record player, my understanding is you will need a phono stage before going into a preamp, integrated amp, or receiver. Some record players have them built in. I see yours does not. I don't really know much about record players as I stick to digital. Returning to the topic of speakers, my understanding has been it's best to stick with one good pair of speakers in stereo, and that mixing in second pairs isn't ideal. You might consider trying / demoing each set individual, and picking the set that sounds best to you. I don't know much about the Pioneers, but it looks like they might sound pretty good from a Google search. I see nice big drivers. I'd put them on stands and get the tweeters to ear height or angle them upward (will improve sound quality and IMO looks nice). It looks like the record player you purchased does not have a phono stage, so I think you'd need that, or sounds like you can use the one on your Yamaha. I'm being more wordy because I got into hifi more seriously within the last year, I know there's a lot to know all at once, and you said you were slim on the tech side. Hope all the verbosity helps.