"My own answer, expressed in general terms, is that a chain is as strong as its weakest link, wherever that link may happen to be located in a particular system."
Fully agree with Al. The music will find and expose your weakest link like Tom Brady and Julian Edelman going after a rookie slot cornerback.
In my case, upgrading the pre-amp from a Plinius M8 to a Symphonic Line tube pre-amp made the biggest difference. The Plinius was nice enough, the SL is great (even if it is an older model from 1999). Another sizeable leap occurred when I changed swapped tubes in the pre-amp from Electro Harmonix to Telefunken. Perhaps the most bang for my buck came from putting two $30 Majesty Palm trees in the corners behind the speakers, which helped tame reflections from the windows in the room.
Fully agree with Al. The music will find and expose your weakest link like Tom Brady and Julian Edelman going after a rookie slot cornerback.
In my case, upgrading the pre-amp from a Plinius M8 to a Symphonic Line tube pre-amp made the biggest difference. The Plinius was nice enough, the SL is great (even if it is an older model from 1999). Another sizeable leap occurred when I changed swapped tubes in the pre-amp from Electro Harmonix to Telefunken. Perhaps the most bang for my buck came from putting two $30 Majesty Palm trees in the corners behind the speakers, which helped tame reflections from the windows in the room.