What equipment upgrades or tweaks will improve the sound of drums?

millercarbon >>>

• "Seemed insanely spendy at first. But they sound so good the way I look at it now is I finally have records worthy of the system."

Spot on with the good copies. Tom Port of Better Records gets super-premium prices for his "Hot Stampers." I’ve heard plenty of them before they get to Tom. I have a good friend (Robert) who sells to Tom and he’ll bring them over to my place to play them here first. And sometimes, I end up with Tom’s rejects. Lucky me.

https://www.better-records.com/

Each pressing is so important in getting the best sound, even to the point that I know of collectors (me included) who will have two copies of the same recording because side one, for example, sounds better on one record, and side two will sound better on the other record. And in addition, there are so many recordings that sound better or worse from cut to cut. Same thing for CDs. Yes, we are down-right obsessed.

I wish you were close by. I’d love to dig deep into the vault and pull out some gems for you to hear.

Frank

For me The High Fidelity MC O.5s brought better base. Easy to use and not that expensive in the scheme of things

Don’t know where the OP is, but its safe to bet that, even with a sub, if those small speakers, about the size of kef ls50s, are not in a small room like what they were designed to be in, its a very bad bet that tweaks alone will do much other than put money better spent in the vendor’s pockets.

First thing first. 

No secret here.

It's not clear what your "quality vinyl recordings" are. IMO, reissues are always a disappointment if you have the opportunity to play a period release.

Reissues are fine, but only as a last resort for my ears

Seek out original presses. Your system is fine, LM gear seems to be solid, so you should be using a phono amp on on the same level for maximum vibe.

I never had a problem with drum performance when I had a P5. The plastic  subplatter, when replaced with one of the aftermarket models seemed to add more authority to percussion and bass.  

It might just not be in the original mix; so no matter what you upgrade it’s not going to happen. Maybe look into other bands or drummers such as Danny Carey of Tool or other heavy handed drummers. I don’t recall any albums of Elton John having the drums being mixed up front. 

Agree with much noted above but not sure upgrading any component or tweak is going to remaster what the engineer did in the studio. Also the theatre you saw Rocket Man in, as I did, the system is EQ so heavy on the bottom end you’re never going to duplicate that for many reasons including the size of the room and the amplification behind those speakers and subs. Not going to happen... sorry.

Seriously the best thing you should do first is work on your room if you haven’t such as room treatment and speaker placement. Everything I said above is true too. Good luck. If you haven’t discovered Tool... you should.

it was a great movie and sad how his parents treated him. I’ve always enjoyed Elton John but after seeing the movie I have much more respect for him and the struggles he conquered. Don’t forget the room treatment.