ROI. Where is money better spent?

I agree about AC.  Cleaner power allows you amp to run more efficiently. When that happens, you most certainly get better performance.

+1 on room treatment. Next, clean up the AC (dedicated lines first) followed by good aftermarket AC cords.

@thiefoflight , @erik_squires 

Absolutely agree, no amount of $$$ spent on gear can overcome/compensate for poor setup and room treatment.
Before spending even more money on another piece of equipment, get your current system to "play the room", and get your room treatments done to have the least detrimental effect on the sound.
Buy Jim Smith's book "Get Better Sound", it is invaluable.

Happy listening, peaceful listening, joyful listening!
Tom

First step in good room treatment is setting up your system within the room (how far your speakers are from your wall, how far apart they are from each other, and how far they are from you). This all depends on the room dimensions. After placement, room treatment usually means adding acoustic paneling to absorb certain sounds (think how an empty room echoes when there is no furniture or no drapes on the walls) and acoustic diffusers to disperse the reflection of music in a way that adds positive resonance and complexity of the sound in the room (like a bookshelf, where if sound hits, it bounces it countless directions).

Much room treatment can be started with the furniture and living things you have on hand, but there are also audiophile treatments you can add, like bass traps that absorb the bass in the corners of the room and bring clarity to the remainder of the frequency range. But @erik_squires is spot on - it doesn’t matter what components you improve first if the room is not set up well for it.

Actually, there's another thread going on about this now:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/for-a-quick-good-time-blankets

Good room treatment? Do you guys mean putting some high-quality art on the walls so you have something to look at while you're listening?

I appreciate everyones input on the matter and will use it to help guide me in my choices. I look forward to learning from you folks, as i am sure i will seek more guidance in the neer future. Hope everyones holidays are going well and good listening.

tls49 +1

I spent more on the cables since they are a non-perishable item.

IMHO, I would suggest spending money on the weakest link of the system, however without knowing the system, any suggestion is somewhat like a shot in the dark. Listing your system would help to get you better recommendations

I agree with ricred1 Preamp or DAC with preamp functionality.  Get eh best source you can before all the other stuff.  I build equipment and I make a DHT DAC and DHT preamp.  As good as the preamp is in comparison to every preamp I have compared it to, the DAC make much more of an overall improvement.  The DAC changed the sound in every system we have auditioned it in much more than the preamp did.  Happy Listening. 

Preamp for sure and the room at the same time. Get a preamp with room correction. Room correction done right helps you hear what your speakers were meant to sound like. 

droleg-

the pre-amp, as it were, is the heart of any system. You will want to go all-out on this piece alone.  Once it is nailed down, then, you can focus on cabling.  Happy Listening!

Thank for all the good advice. I dont have unlimited funds to spend and want a decent sounding system.   Getting back into it after many years.

Cables make a difference but the preamp is the most important piece to get right. Get the best preamp you can afford. If you have cables you can sell so you can spend more on the preamp, do that too. 

If you screw up on your preamp, you'll be spending a ton of money on cables to try and fix your mistake. It won't work, of course, so you might as well just do it right the first time.

Room treatment vs. speakers is kind of a chicken and egg.

Good room treatment makes a room more speaker and sub, and genre and movie friendly. However you don't really know what the problems are until you get speakers. :)  I will say that once you have good room treatment you will swap a lot of things except them. :)

Best,

Erik

Balanced components negate the need to some extent for jumping into the cable scramble. That's no small blessing. 
A setup guy I know with many years of experience tried Belkin XLRs across the room and wasn't sure there was much difference.
Room treatment takes time IMO and there is no substitute for sitting and listening a few times to evaluate the effect. Personally I get the pre and play with the room indefinitely. Getting the reverb time down incrementally keeps you from going overboard on this and you have opportunities to sit and listen to the equipment as a bonus.

Balanced components negate the need to some extent for jumping into the cable scramble. That's no small blessing. 
A setup guy I know with many years of experience tried Belkin XLRs across the room and wasn't sure there was much difference.

As far as room treatment goes, what would be the first priority?

+1 on room treatment before pre

I was concerned that less expensive cables would vail or block some of a good preamps sonic performance.

Regarding the correlation between cable price and cable performance, you may find this thread to be of interest.

Good luck.  Regards,
-- Al
 

Better source..then preamp, imho.

Better speakers, then Better room treatment.... then better pre. :) ;]

My experience lately is getting good preamp then later good cables these compliment each other. I never new how good is my art audio preamp till I bought a very good interconnect  and speaker cables..,,

Better room treatment.... then better pre. :)

Best,

Erik

Cables are like spices to a degree, they will season to your preference but not make up for a lessor dish.  

So far pretty unanimous. I was concerned that less expensive cables would vail or block some of a good preamps sonic performance.  But  any input( no pun intended), is appreciated!

Preamp or DAC with preamp functionality 

+1 for preamp!

The preamp more or less really helps define the sound of the system.  That would be the biggest bang for the buck.

Definitely pre

better pre