everything sounded great until the upgrade

grislybutter,

"Seriously. Isn’t it a reasonable goal to make my existing speakers sound good"?

You are absolutely correct. Speakers are mega, yet they are still only one ingredient in the stew.

My philosophy is different to a lot of philes in two ways. One: - before you spend a penny on gear there are two variables that need your attention. A: The quality of the actual recording that’s being listened to. B: The room you’re playing it in. Two: - The other difference in my equipment philosophy is, it’s my source that I build my system around, not my speakers. Speakers come & go. Without a good source to play a fine recording ya got NADA.

"Isn’t it a reasonable goal to make my existing speakers sound good"? Ya think! Optimize your existing set-up. If you’re table (I wish I knew what it was) bests your Cd player, focus on your turntable 1st. Get some isolation pads (IsoAcoustics) under your turntable, amp & speakers. If your table is a cut above consider rewiring your tonearm with a single run interconnect. (this is the only place I’d consider silver over copper). http://www.smetonearms.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=2

Next, get good interconnects. If you’re handy, save some money & make your own http://www.cardas.com/chassis_wire.php, (I like the GRNO 90 RCA connecters), or buy used. Same goes with speaker wire, & I’m glad to say you can do well here without going nuts. Kimber’s Base PR8 will do ya fine. https://www.kimber.com/products/8PR

As for bookshelf speaker .... take your time, enjoy what you have. When the time comes ProAc D2. https://www.proac-loudspeakers.com/products/response-d2-r-d/

@bigmac1963 current ones are Evoke 20s. I love Dynaudio. I listed to the Special forty’s and I missed the warmth of the Evokes. At the dealer, then and there. So, yes, special forty’s might be the be all end all!

Very simple, stick to what works. If possible go back to the original amp. The new amp purchase is a mistake. You will be throwing good money after bad replacing everything else including speakers to match the new amp purchase. Why can't you sell the new amp? Do you still have the old amp?  If not, this is typically the price paid for "not" leaving well enough alone. We all have been there.

@thehorn 

that's my biggest lesson from it: it's starts with the amp.

I always chased the speakers before.

If I had the money and time, I'd buy a different system for my 10 favorite songs each because they all sound different now

grislybutter,

"that’s my biggest lesson from it: it’s starts with the amp". I never said that Gris, it starts with the source (turntable/cartridge/tonearm, or Cd, etc), and the quality of the actual recording process on the format. It’s quality in, quality out, or, garbage in ...... etc.

Now your narrative implies that you have a good turntable, (get it isolated!!!), and you have the M/F A3.2, so optimize your speaker set-up as I & others in this form have suggested, then enjoy the life long learning curve.

When I was 20 I bought an Oracle Delphi turntable, with a Syrinx LE1 arm & a Grace F9 cartridge. In the subsequent 43 years tonearms, cartridges, pre-amps, amps, speakers, "houses", have all come and gone. But the one reference piece that’s remained, the foundation I could measure all other components against, was my source. That in my experience is where Phile’s with limited resouces should start. The source.

So don’t ignore your room, book cases, curtains, crown molding, pictures & end tables maynot be as effective as dedicated defusers/traps, but hey. This is your home, not a lab. Lets not lose perspective, are you spinning a few tunes, or are you finding a cure for cancer?