I Need an Upgrade Path...Help Please

I know that there are some very knowledgable folks out there and I need your help in determining an intelligent upgrade path.

I have been an audiophile since I was quite young. At the ripe old age of 11, I convinced my Dad to buy himself some new speakers for Xmas and give me his old pair (Ohm Walsh 4's) as my Xmas gift. He included an old Marantz receiver that he had been hanging on to (in case quadraphonic made a comeback?) and bought me a modest CD player(I believe it was a Scott).

Anyway, I've dabbled in the hobby ever since, but only recently have I begun to become FULLY addicted like many of you. I have assembled a modest system by making purchases here on the Audiogon, but I don't feel like I had a very intelligent "plan" for my purchases.

What I'm looking for is a logical upgrade path so that I can "plan my work and work my plan" as a former employer used to say.

Here's what I have:

CD Player - Rega Planet (not 2000)
Interconnect - MIT Terminator 3
Pre-amp - Classe DR5
Interconnect - MIT Terminator 3
Amplifier - Classe DR9 (I think this is the strongest component in my system??)
Speaker Cables - Monster M1(?) Bi-wire
Speakers - Hales Concept 2's

For the most part I'm pretty pleased with my system, however, I find that recordings which are less than outstanding sound VERY harsh (dare I say shrill), so much that I find myself listening to less of my music collection (bad). I didn't begin to experience this problem until I purchased the Hales. Now I'm not sure if the Hales are so good that they're revealing some weaknesses in the rest of my system, or if they're not as good as the speakers that they replaced (Platinum Audio Solo's).

Now I feel like I've made some bad decisions and want to avoid just randomly replacing things until I get it "right". I need your advice. Where should I start? Specific product recommendations are welcomed. And just so you know, money IS an issue, so I'd like to keep things in the same ballpark as what I've got...don't tell me that I need an Accuphase SACD player and Levinson Monoblocks with a Goldmund Preamp and Valhalla interconnects and cables!!!!

Thanks in advance for your assistance!