Upgrading the preamp is good advice, and you won’t understand why until you hear one that is significantly better than the one that you have. I.e. avoid a lateral move. I vote for the small dedicated room, with a carefully selected system it can be really good.
New preamp or up grade my cartridge and or phono amp?
I have an Emotiva XMC-1 with a Rega P6 TT a Rega MCFONO phono amp and a Rega Ania cartridge. If I'm running the Emotiva in the "reference mode", would it make more sense to up grade the cartridge and phono amp (maybe even the tonearm) or add a new preamp with a HT bypass