the best not always the best

Why are you continuously trying to change what you already think sounds pretty good? Rather than focusing on what is better or worse, consider shifting your focus towards what works. Your current setup sounds well balanced and I'm not surprised that it's capable of presenting a very musical performance.

Cody: Is the Creek, etc. your second system or is it your main system that you have tried adding on to or upgrading? I don't quite understand your post. I think that most people will require knowing exactly what you have and what you are trying to achieve in order to give good advice, if that is what you are asking for.

There is a lot of tweeking you could without replacing the system. Demo other interconnects and cables; try different speaker placement; modify room treatment/decor; get a power conditioner if you don't have one or demo a better one; add a musical subwoofer like a REL Stratus.

I've faced the asme exact dilemma. Based on my experience, the frustration comes from increacing the resolution of a system, which then allows you to hear and identify more of the good and the bad. Its this "bad" that becomes the focus, which drives me away from the passion of the music. In the end, when you upgrade your resolution of your system, be prepared to spend alot more time tweaking, and alot more money on synergistic components and cables. Hopefully you won't get burnt out trying to "improve" the overall sound and resolution of your system. Beleive me, having lots of money does not necessarily lead to a musical bliss. Good luck.

The interaction between the existing components and any new component is something that must be carefully considered when upgrading. Matching one item's weaknesses with another's strengths is a good way to balance the sound. Going the other way can be a good way to get into trouble. Many audiophiles try to contiuously increase the level of transparency in their systems only to find they are revealing characteristics in their gear (or their recordings) that maybe is better left undiscovered. It sometimes depends on whether you want to analyze or enjoy your music. Also, once you have a system that is musically balanced, you need to be very careful in making changes, unless you are prepared to totally redo the entire system.

Cody my system is very transparent, sometimes I feel its to transparent to my liking. The problem is some of my cd's sound great and I float into audio heaven. But some of the cd's I have are terrible recordings. You can hear the hissing and it almost sounds like they record the cd from a tape. So be careful if you are going for a revealing system, cause some of your cd's may reveal what you don't want to hear. You probably have exactly what you want now and the audio bug may be bitting. good luck pete