That’s nice gear. I would recommend two upgrades:
1. If you have the magnetic-bearing Concept tonearm, change that out to a rigid bearing arm: e.g. in the Clearaudio amp, a Satisfy (good) or Tracer (better). You may not have severe issues with the magnetic arm now, but it’s always there lurking - maybe if you change cartridges, or change your table’s location, or play music louder lol. And don’t worry about linear tracking arms, or 12" arms for now (or ever). A good 9" - 10" rigid bearing arm is fantastic.
2. Upgrade the cartridge to a next level one. I too started out with an ~$800 MC "high value" cartridge (Benz Glider L2), and it was a GREAT start but the move to an $1800 one (Ortofon Kontrapunkt "c" - older version of the Cadenza Bronze) was quite significant. BUT you must have a tonearm and phono stage that can support the move, and matches extremely well to your chosen cartridge. Your Herron phono stage (I owned one) is WAY beyond the $800 cartridge level, and can be configured to match almost any cartridge in existence - so you’re in great shape there. Some will question whether a table upgrade may be more appropriate than a cartridge, and that’s fair, but I think the Concept is a pretty nice and can handle a better cartridge if you address the tonearm.
Your amp is nice; I had an original Rogue Atlas (non-Magnum) when I did that $1800 cartridge upgrade, so I know you amp section (Cronus is just Atlas plus a simple preamp stage) is good enough to let your source upgrades shine though. In theory you’d be better off with an Atlas Magnum (don’t think the Cronus preamp stage is bypass-able) and a high quality separate tube preamp, but that’s going to probably be much more money than it’s worth for now (i.e. wait until you can do at least a Stereo 100 or M180 level amp with separate preamp).
1. If you have the magnetic-bearing Concept tonearm, change that out to a rigid bearing arm: e.g. in the Clearaudio amp, a Satisfy (good) or Tracer (better). You may not have severe issues with the magnetic arm now, but it’s always there lurking - maybe if you change cartridges, or change your table’s location, or play music louder lol. And don’t worry about linear tracking arms, or 12" arms for now (or ever). A good 9" - 10" rigid bearing arm is fantastic.
2. Upgrade the cartridge to a next level one. I too started out with an ~$800 MC "high value" cartridge (Benz Glider L2), and it was a GREAT start but the move to an $1800 one (Ortofon Kontrapunkt "c" - older version of the Cadenza Bronze) was quite significant. BUT you must have a tonearm and phono stage that can support the move, and matches extremely well to your chosen cartridge. Your Herron phono stage (I owned one) is WAY beyond the $800 cartridge level, and can be configured to match almost any cartridge in existence - so you’re in great shape there. Some will question whether a table upgrade may be more appropriate than a cartridge, and that’s fair, but I think the Concept is a pretty nice and can handle a better cartridge if you address the tonearm.
Your amp is nice; I had an original Rogue Atlas (non-Magnum) when I did that $1800 cartridge upgrade, so I know you amp section (Cronus is just Atlas plus a simple preamp stage) is good enough to let your source upgrades shine though. In theory you’d be better off with an Atlas Magnum (don’t think the Cronus preamp stage is bypass-able) and a high quality separate tube preamp, but that’s going to probably be much more money than it’s worth for now (i.e. wait until you can do at least a Stereo 100 or M180 level amp with separate preamp).