upgrade or all new?


Maybe I'm out of my "wallet league" here, but was hoping for advice on upgrade possibilities. I like good separation in instruments and voice, not bright, but not a muddy low-end either; 50 to 60w max (condo living), two channels. I'm learning more and more about classical, prefer strings over brass and piano. Love jazz vocals like sarah vaughan, ella, carmen mcrae etc. At 50 yrs old I can't seem to enjoy Rock music anymore, it's all too similar, and trendy, although I do like electronica like crystal method, ladytron, etc.
Here's what I have so far:
Office
NAD 3150
Yamaha yp211
AR 25s
monster cable

Living Room
Marantz 2230
Dual 1226
H/K FL 8350 CD 5disc changer(too bright)
Athena BS-1 on stands
monster cable
Please offer advise on anything here, even cartridges that may make for better sound (AT 70Lcarts mm), connects, etc.
Budget maybe $500 to 1000.

Hope I wasn't too long.
Don in Tennessee
donntn
Sell off what you have and buy used as an upgrade. Don't buy anything new from a dealer, maybe demo's and b stock. Otherwise selling the old does not make sense.
Don in TN,

I'll "Volunteer" another opinion....

Looks like you've got mostly older stuff of reasonably good quality. I don't have any personnel experience with any of the equipment in either of your systems, except the Athenas. So, I'll start there.

The Athenas are good "bang for the buck speaker". Last I saw them, they were selling for $99/pr at AudioAdvisor before the were replaced by the newer Athena line. I previously owned a pair and they were OK speakers, but they could be greatly out performed by speakers that are well within your $500-$1000 budget.

Since it appears that you like monitors and already own stands, here's a potential solution that may pay huge sonic dividends: Buy a pair of Quad 12L Active monitors! The Quads are very attractive, very good sounding speakers and they have bi-amplification (60W-woofer, 40W-Tweeter) built into the speaker. So, the Quads would cover new speakers and amplification for $800 or less. If either of your current integrated amps have pre-outs, you could simply connect the Quads to your existing system and live with it. Or, you could buy a reasonably inexpensive pre-amp for use with the Quads. Either way, if you would sell off the components you replaced, this solution would easily fit into the top end of your budget and you could potentially even have money left over to use toward a new CD player or TT.

Enjoy,

TIC
Spend as much as you possibly can on a pair of speakers that really work in your room and please your ears.

When you have additional funds, find an amp that matches the speakers well.

The balance will fall into place over time.