Ha! I know what you mean.
Funny thing is my Marantz is the same way...
I would vote for waiting for the speaker upgrade unless you need the dough.
The reliability of the CA unit would be a big deal to me. Last thing I want to do with new components is send them out for repair. That's why I dropped vintage.
Unfortunately, I do need to decide which amp I'm going for before replacing the speakers. With that in mind, I decided to sit down with both systems, and Queen's 'Rock Montreal' concert on CD...
The cambridge completely blew the Yamaha out of the water. Way more power (as you would expect), but also a far better more 3-dimensional sound stage. The sense of 'being there' was far greater with the Cambridge - the system appearing to be better at connecting with the music. While the yamaha did sound beautiful with certain tracks, particularly when reproducing the guitar in 'Love Of My Life', the cambridge did all that and more.
So, it looks like between these 2, it's the Cambridge. Who'd've thought the cambridge system, with its pre/power combo and CD player costing less than the Yamaha amp alone, could hands-down beat it sonically?
Of course, this is all a matter of personal opinion. And the reliability of the CA gear does concern me... I've owned the E/W for 9 months now with only a couple of issues, but I'm on my 3rd 851C... That said, I'll continue to enjoy it and wait for something else to come along...