What's the weak link in my system?

Thank you Dave. I don't; my disposition is naturally diplomatic. Listening room is 18 x 22 with hardwood flooring and one door. I haven't installed any acoustical treatment so the walls and ceiling are sheetrock. I also have experimented some with speaker placement but the link posted by cd318 above is an article suggesting specific spacing / placement for the PSBs which I'll try. Good to hear the feedback on the preamp / amp speaker from you and loomisjohnson and by inference from inna as well as the vote of confidence in the Marantz from willemj. That helps narrow it down to take a harder look at turntable, phono pre, speaker placement and acoustical treatments. Any suggestions?      

Thank you Frank I just read your post. I had never heard of those before I'll check them out! 

Problem with big turntable upgrade is that soon after that you will want to follow up with cartridge, phono stage and tonearm cable upgrades. But if you are thinking about it, I would not upgrade either cartridge or phono stage right now, especially the latter.

+2 for Dave

Concentrate on the room and setup before replacing any equipment. I know it's difficult to use spikes on hardwood floors, but hopefully you at least have something on the bottom of the speaker cabinet, rather than sitting directly on the floor. Do you have an area rug on the floor between you and the speakers? If not, get one.

Experimenting with speaker placement and (not or) getting your room acoustics improved should be your priority right now IMO.

Someone here started a thread on trying placing household pillows on the floor. Not a long term solution to be sure and make sure the wife is not home, but worth a try to see since you have a bare wood floor right now. Gotta get that wood floor between the speakers and you covered even if with just a moderately priced rug and a heavy pad underneath.

Lots of good feedback here on GIK brand acoustical treatments for bang for the buck and I know from experience that SR stuff is great, if pricey. If you are handy and willing, you can make almost identical products to the GIK yourself and save a ton of money. I can tell you how if you wish as I did just that several years ago. You can see my bass traps on my Virtual System page. One warning: do not be pressured into buying a ton of absorption products all at once. Start with some quality bass traps like the GIK Tri-traps and some economical panels for the first reflection points on the side walls. You will be amazed.

I hate to write this, but based on recent experience, after room acoustic treatment and given your current source situation, I would recommend that you invest in a good computer audio setup. A good DAC and music streamer (not PC/MAC) can sound pretty fantastic.

Don’t know your financial limits, but a used DAC in the $700-$1000 range to pair up with your Bluesound Node and a subscription to Tidal Hi-Fi would be a great start. Read up on DACs at computeraudiophile.com and digitalaudioreview.com (Jon Darko) before buying. Pay more attention to the input filtering, analog section, and power supply (preferably external) than the specific DAC chip/DAC section at this price point. 

I still ultimately prefer my TT but big investment is required to get excellent sound, so take inna’s advice there.

Good luck to you,
Dave