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

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.

I am imagining the speaker placement isnt the best it could be . Odd furniture creating reflection . Distance the speakers the same from your side walls . Dont be against a wall in a corner or have a metal filing cabinet within your angle of reflection. I know it sounds like obvious points but its important to have the perfect sound stage before  being accurately dissatisfied. Sub woofer is going to have very little to do with good drums. Your mids and tweets are going to give the tone and life to percussion. Do i have to mention tube rolling has an immediate and significant change to drums. Be like changing out the drum kit with each tube. Soundstage perfection then  tubes . In that order. 

I think it’s all in the recording and how the recording was done .
I realize your discussion revolves around vinyl playback however you need to hear these spectacular recordings .
For 25 bucks you can judge for yourself, Tonian Labs percussion recordings are shockingly realistic though so far only available on CD .
The recording industry could definitely take lessons from Tony Minasian of Tonian Labs .

As fate would have it in some cases people are sitting right smack dab in the middle of a standing wave. Can you believe it? It’s bound to happen sooner or later. Try walking around the room a little to see where the drum sounds louder, fuller, deeper. Also, try sitting on the floor.

The new cd from The Raconteurs gives you some heavy drumming and top notch sound. Vocals too!