Upgrading audio from speakers...Help!

I think before throwing acoustic treatments at the room you should do some research and understand what your room is doing for you and against you. I started with reading the book "The Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest. This book really helped me get a grasp on the fundamentals of room acoustics. I have to agree with the previous post. If your sources are not up to the task of your new speakers then it won't matter what you change. As far as room acoustics go you can do a lot yourself just by understanding the room and how it interacts with your speakers. I am a big fan of a difussion.

I guess there is really no "right" way to upgrade your system. My thinking about agreeing with Alruhl was that if you start by making changes at the source and then work down you stand a better chance of hearing significant improvements along the way. If you voice your amp to the old pre-amp (which may be bright) and then replace the pre-amp with something more neutral you may think the pre-amp is at fault when really it's the amp. My comments about room acoustics should not be taken as "start here first." As a matter of fact I agree that room acoustics are very important to your setup and should be check at every step along the way. My point was to figure how much the room is contributing and how much the components are contributing. If you have a small room and the speakers seem to boom at say 80-100 Hz and the frequency directly corresponds to a room mode then it would be incorrect to assume the speakers are boomy. But if you plan to use no room acoustics then a mini-monitor may be the right way to go in order to use the room modes to your advantage. The point being do the research first and understand what you are doing. I am in the process of upgrading my system also. I am trying to pick relatively neutral components and speakers. The thought being that I can tweak the system in with cables and the final component. In my system I have a good front end (CAL Delta). I then purchased B&W N802, then a dCS Delius. Next I will replace the amps and then work on the cables and finally as a treat to myself I will add the dCS Purcell. If I didn't have a good source feeding the Delius I think I would have been less impressed. But after making those changes my amps are much happier. Better bass and imaging, etc. I can live with the system longer before having to make another change. But that's just the way it worked out in my system - yours may be different. Good luck.