First "audiophile" system, now what? Suggestions for best "bang for the buck" upgrade?

Lots of good advise posted, but, IMHO, a very important, (and inexpensive) step has been overlooked. Make sure that your turntable/cartridge/tonearm are set up correctly. I recently helped a friend who has an old Orcle Delphi of mine with a Rega RB250 and Ortofon 2M Red. I spent an hour or so dialing it all in for him, and he called me later that day to thank me for the work, and to let me know that it was like having a whole new rig. Just sayin........

I'll agree with those who say to save for better speakers. A speaker upgrade will take your system to a much higher level.
However, for the short term and not much money, an upgrade to an Ortofon Blue will be a noticeable improvement to your analogue.

Contact these guys and ask for Joe, regarding auditioning a set of interconnects and speaker cables, based on your particular system/components: (http://www.usedcables.com) Personally, I recommend either Kimber or Synergistic Research’s entry-level stuff, to begin with. There’s a 5% of sale price, "rental" fee, but- I’ll bet you find the experiment well worth it. If you have any, "ears" at all, you’ll hear more music. If you can’t recognize any improvements, then- forget about it!

I'm not sure what speakers you have now. The ML 12 is a sub right?

There's no doubt in my mind, room acoustics. Take some pics and send them to GIK Acoustics and they will put together a very nice package for your budget.  After that, if your ML is a sub, an EQ from miniDSP.

You may go through dozens of speakers and interconnects, and phono cartridges, but the Acoustics will be there for always.

Best,


Erik

Wow, I went away for few days and got flooded with advice. Thanks so much. Mostly reinforced what I suspected are best next steps. So here's my plan:
1. Better needle. Swap Ortofon Red for Blue (nude elliptical). The needles use the same cartridge, so the needles can just be swapped. Many folks report that the improvement in sound is very noticeable - for $150 - looks like a bargain to me.
2. Should say better speakers next, but instead I think I may be able to improve the power supply. Much of this I think I can DIY. It may be a modest improvement but may also be a modest expense with free labor.
3. Now better speakers. Problem is the Martin Logan 12s were originally $1500 a pair and I got them new (discontinued) for $400. I'm guessing that I would have to spend upwards of $2500 to get speakers that would sound substantially better, unless they are used and I'm leery of buying used speakers.
4. Better turntable (VPI?) after the novelty of the ProJect 1 Carbon w/acrylic platter wears off. It has issues with motor hum, but it looks cool.
5. High end cables/ wires are last on my list. When my components are better matched, and I have a dedicated listening space that I can customize, maybe then my ears will hear the effect of better cables.
6. I think I will be growing into my amp Vincent V60 for a long time. I think I was lucky to find it for auction on Audiogon. Self biasing 60w tube amp, TAS integrated amp of the year(2010?) for $1200. I think it is the best piece in the system by far.
So the needle upgrade is a forgone conclusion for the most pressing upgrade; what I really need to know is if anyone has experience finding a good speaker match for an integrated tube amp such as the Vincent V60 so that I can start dreaming now? Perhaps this should be a new thread?