Something just isn't there

Your room seems to me, to be a big part of your problem. As others have mentioned, an area rug between your listening position and the speakers should help. Your speaker placement in relation to your primary listening position is absolutely critical though, and would be where I would start.. You may want to give the Sumiko Master Set a try. It is a step by step approach to speaker placement. Here's a link:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=60819.0

Good luck lobsterotter

@jafant

Cheap advice, as well. In some instances the improvement heard swapping cables and fuses may be the difference between a clean and dirty electrical contact.   This isn't surprising when a cleaning regime produces a handful of dirty Q-tips. 

Have you tried cleaning every connector and tube pin and socket down the line? This is worth doing every six months, and may bring back the breath of life that you’re missing.

This is a great thread.

It has really helped me listen to and think about the sound.  Interesting about the visceral physical part of the experience.  I suppose this has to do with focused energy, even at low volume levels.  I could imagine when dissipated or conflicted the energy pattern will be heard and felt as weaker.  I feel like this part is missing for me.

Ok, I looked at the SR HFT. Small metal pieces with a concave conical shape.   I gotta admit that seems a stretch, but of course I haven't experienced them myself. 

Over the holidays, Ill be playing with a lot of the ideas above:  speaker placement, taming the room, tube dampers, fuse replacement, new isolating feet for the phono preamp.  I may even begin to look at the daunting issue of ICs and power cords. 

All great posts!  Thank you all for bearing with me.

I will try the tweaks, lower crossover and VTA.  The TT was just set up by Jacques at Oracle so it should be quite right.

I need to reduce reflective surfaces with corner traps and tapestry wall hangings and use area rugs to balance the large ceiling area.  The floor itself is super rigid and solid in a 100yr old house; no flex, give, or squeak. 

Larryi is right.  I do tend to turn it up, trying to capture a presence or visceral connection with the sound. 

I'm guessing that lush indicates more pronounced middle frequencies, warmer sound.  My sound is detailed but still musical, not harsh or analytical.  Perhaps an element of lushness is needed.  Wlutke, I like the idea of IC and tube upgrades as part of the overall plan.

I have heard the GIK panels and I think they do a pretty good job.  The fabric on the panels can be printed with whatever you want so they are relatively easy to work into the décor.  But, even such modest treatment may not be necessary.  I've heard terrific sounding rooms that were treated with nothing more than decorative tapestries on the wall.  It really does not take much to improve the room.  A rug between the position of the speaker and your listening chair would help a lot; hardwood floors act as a giant sound reflector; the ceiling also acts in the same way which means that a lot of sound is bouncing back and forth between those two surfaces. 

The most important thing is to find the right placement of your speakers and your listening position.  This can take quite a bit of trial and error.  Even a movement of a couple of inches can make a big difference.

I get a lot of that "something missing" impression with a lot of equipment these days--the sound is cold, bloodless and lifeless (makes one push the volume up high to compensate).  I would suggest going to different dealers or regional audio shows to at least get a general impression of the type of sound you want to pursue.  That would include listening to brands whose sound is outside of mainstream sound, such as Audio Note and Devore (richer, meatier sound), or different way of reproducing sound (planars, like Magnepan). 

Good luck on your search.