The Horror

@niskymichael

Accuphase and Luxman are two known brands which make FULL FEATURED control amplifiers. If you play vinyl - better get one WITH tone controls and rumble filter. Power amplifiers field is much broader and there you need to choose what is most compatible with your speakers. Cables do change sound, but I would never choose those which do (other than reducing noise level). I use tone controls, if I need to alter the sound.

@ap1 while you might be trying to be helpful, your advice above ($20k entry point, Luxman or Accuphase) is somewhat narrow and wide of the mark. The OP was seeking help understanding what about his setup was holding him back. Its the room combined with a buffet of gear which either does not have synergy with the room or with the other gear or both.

While there are many great speakers for the arbitrary budget you just established and while both Luxman and Accuphase are fine brands with excellent options in their lines, there are many others here who have heard both extensively and chosen other brands…and vice versa. To the OP, stay the course and address your room and acoustics…only then will you alone know appropriate next steps.

I for one have never gone to one of the big audio shows, probably for the same reason as the poster, I’m sure mt system would be woefully inadequate after hearing the megabuck systems put together by experts.

instead I have over the years put together a decent sounding system, going back to vinyl as my primary source. I still listen to CD’s and streaming but my three turntable, yes three, obsessive but different sounds that I enjoy  from each table, cartridge and phono preamp.

   Trust your ears, use room treatments as they help tremendously and sit down and listen. As others have said your components are ten times better than the Best Buy mass market stuff most people have.

Thank you Ghasley.  I was just about to respond with something very similar. There is so much great gear out there now at varying price points and with different sounds/synergies.  I just think that we should not give folks the impression that they only have a very narrow set of options from which to choose. Listen to that sound in your "mind's ear" that you're trying to obtain, and then go out and listen, listen, listen to various components and setups.  Just keep moving toward that sound.  You'll probably never get there, but you can get close!  :)

I for one have never gone to one of the big audio shows, probably for the same reason as the poster, I’m sure mt system would be woefully inadequate after hearing the megabuck systems put together by experts.

@k600r I look at it quite differently.  Years ago I was at a show and heard a Wilson Audio setup with pricey BAT electronics that sounded really excellent with one of David Wilson’s chosen demo songs (and I wasn’t even a big fan of Wilson speakers back then).  Using that as a sonic benchmark I immediately bought a copy of the same CD to see if my system retained what I heard at that show, and very thankfully it did to a surprising degree.  BUT, if it didn’t I wanted to know that and would’ve immediately started to explore what I needed to address to get closer to that benchmark rather than just settling for what I had.  To be clear, my entire system at the time only cost one third the price of just the Wilson speakers alone I heard that day so the potential solution wouldn’t have required throwing big $$$ at the issue but rather making better individual equipment choices.  My point is that hearing megabuck systems doesn’t need to be self defeating and can be highly instructive in improving your own system within any budget level, it may well just require making some different/better equipment choices.  
 

And while I totally agree that room treatment is very important to getting the best out of any system, in this case I don’t think it’s the fix the OP is looking for.  In the above example the demo system’s room was carefully treated and mine was untreated and I was still able to hear that my system was in well within the ballpark of what I heard with the Wilson system.  Despite whatever room/setup limitations may exist in the OP’s system, the vast difference he’s hearing needs to be addressed largely through different equipment choices to get more what he’s looking for.  Not that treating the room or some repositioning can’t help significantly, but it won’t get him to the promised land in this situation IMO because the differences are just too fundamental and severe.  Even without room treatments and optimal positioning the OP still should be hearing many, if not most, of the positive aspects of the show demo systems if his system was more geared to what he now knows he’s shooting for.  And again, and to avoid potential flames being thrown, I’m not downplaying at all the importance of dealing with room/placement issues, but I highly doubt it’s the solution in this case.  Just my take on it.