What's the weakest link in my stereo set up? I live in a townhome, so limited on space.

IF open to used speakers, let us know where you live so we can look for suggestions near enough to allow you to hear them when you pick them up.

1st: I completely agree, simply change the stylus on your MP-150 Body to the 500.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/who-is-using-nagaoka-phono-cartridges?highlight=nagaoka

Are you able to align/calibrate your cartridge? Near KAB? I'm walking distance from KAB in the Sleepy Hollow/Netherwood Heights historic district, Plainfield, NJ

excerpt

"knotscott

I picked up a Nagaoka MP-150 last spring, and added the JN-P (MP500) nude line contact stylus on boron cantilever to it, and think it’s spectacular. Incredibly musical with beautifully refined detail, amazing midrange clarity and separation. It sounds like I have wanted all my other carts to sound since getting into this in the early 80s. All in for ~ $570...not cheap, but not outrageous for the sound I’m getting"

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next, maximize imaging by improving initial sound wave distribution/reception. create a virtual system on this site, post some photos, so the ideas of across the width or down the length and your equipment/furniture/you didn't mention video? are easier to understand, suggestions will be easier to make and understand

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future changes

speakers, I would forget all/any subtle modifications for now,

re- arrange things so you can have larger speakers, 3 way placed/aimed best toed-in/tilted back to minimize floor/ceiling/side walls reflections (slanted face design/mid height on slanted stand/ or taller floor standing flat face slanted back to aim tweeters at seated ear level)

my assumption/guess: a small 5.1 home theater/music combo system, AVR with FRONT pre-outs, does the Cambridge have a home theater bypass input?

room treatments, maybe, but start simply with an easily re-positioned area rug

Toe In Alternates, Stereo and Video

adjacent apartments is another advantage of concentrating your directionality which minimizes content reaching floor/ceiling/side walls, and allows lower overall volume to be heard clearly.

Photos of the room and furniture arrangement please

While figuring out a new furniture setup to get larger speakers in your space, start auditioning some interesting finds, not to buy but to refine your preferences, listening to your Focals all the time.

Facebook Marketplace, this is speakers for sale, 100 mile radius of Baltimore, $200 to $2,100.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/baltimore/search?minPrice=200&maxPrice=2100&query=speakers%20for%20sale&exact=false

Don’t mistake loud volume with full range when you see large drivers.

Perhaps below are too big, but for example: I am a big fan of level controls to adjust tweeters and midrange driver levels relative to their forward firing woofer, in your space, to your and your wife’s ears, with a SPL Meter and Test Tones (no ports or like these front ports only), on stands that are slanted and toe-in away from side walls.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/560961356962901/?ref=category_feed&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=listing&tracking=%7B%22qid%22%3A%22-308827868666038385%22%2C%22mf_story_key%22%3A%2224106793762242254%22%2C%22commerce_rank_obj%22%3A%22%7B%5C%22target_id%5C%22%3A24106793762242254%2C%5C%22target_type%5C%22%3A0%2C%5C%22primary_position%5C%22%3A5%2C%5C%22ranking_signature%5C%22%3A1926822584997181617%2C%5C%22commerce_channel%5C%22%3A504%2C%5C%22value%5C%22%3A0.00013336701654066%2C%5C%22candidate_retrieval_source_map%5C%22%3A%7B%5C%2224106793762242254%5C%22%3A3003%7D%7D%22%7D

btw, after you finish chasing very low bass, especially in a space like yours, you realize it can be fun mud, I have my rear ports plugged in my current space, there was no wall behind them in prior space.

pair of restored AR3a’s near you

think of them as the smallest big speaker, easy to have refinished if you love them.

put them on stands, tilted back, toed-in: rear level controls for tweeter and mid range like my AR2ax’s which have 10" woofers, the AR-3’s have 12" woofers

"The Acoustic Research AR-3a Loudspeaker:

The AR-3a is a 3-way, full-range, 4-ohm acoustic-suspension loudspeaker—technically a bookshelf speaker for very sturdy bookshelves—which includes the well-known AR 12-inch acoustic-suspension woofer and dome midrange and tweeter drivers, based on the original AR-3.

The AR-3a was designed by Chuck McShane and Roy Allison of Acoustic Research, Inc., and the speaker was introduced at the New York High Fidelity Music Show in October, 1967. The basic design goals of the AR-3a were originally established in 1965-1966 by AR cofounder Edgar Villchur, with the objective of improving the already excellent off-axis dispersion of the renowned AR-3. The result was a speaker containing one of the widest and most uniform midrange and treble dispersion of any forward-facing loudspeaker ever designed for home sound reproduction.

The acoustically sealed, heavily braced (nine internal braces screwed and glued to the inside of the cabinet) and critically damped (the "Q" of the AR-3a is 0.9 - 1.0) AR-3a enclosure volume is 1.7 cu. ft., which is optimal for the 41-43 Hz resonance frequency, and the woofer’s suspension restoring force ratio is approximately 85% acoustic and 15% mechanical, far greater than nearly all current consumer loudspeakers using the a/s design. For this reason—and the basic design of the motor system in the AR woofer—the AR-3a has much lower harmonic distortion than any conventional, current-design loudspeaker of a comparable size. Julian Hirsch measured the woofer’s harmonic distortion at a power level ten-times higher than usual test input voltages, and the distortion in the AR-3a’s woofer was under 9% at 20 Hz, setting a new standard of low distortion, especially at this high-power testing.

The woofer used in this pair of AR-3a speakers has a large 9.6 lb Alnico-5 magnet assembly, cast-aluminum frame and a long-throw, 2-inch heavy copper voice coil with a linear excursion of 5/8-inch and a maximum physical excursion of 1.2 inches. The midrange driver has a 1½-inch treated-cloth dome (hemispherical) diaphragm with 1½-inch copper voice coil on an aluminum former assembly. The midrange driver is critically damped with fiberglass pads under and above the dome assembly itself. The magnet assembly is a large ferrite unit. The AR-3a tweeter uses a ¾-inch treated-paper dome diaphragm—similar to the original AR-3 phenolic-dome tweeter—suspended by urethane-polymer foam pieces in the outside portion of the voice coil with a layer of clear butyl-rubber sealing the outside of the magnetic gap. The magnet assembly is ferrite. The drivers have LCR crossover frequencies of 575 Hz and 5,000 Hz.

The speaker’s impedance ranges from 2.7 – 4.9 ohms, and the speaker is approximately 0.5% efficient, meaning that an amplifier capable of at least 30-50 watts-per-channel into 4 ohms is the minimum suitable power. The AR-3a physical dimensions are 14” x 25” x 11-3/8.” The AR-3a’s net weight, each, unboxed, is 54 lbs., and in the double shipping carton 64 lbs gross."