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

Many good comments here.
I played drums for 20 years and Nigel Olsson had one of the best sounding kits. I saw Elton twice at MSG in the mid 1970s and the drums were certainly a highlight for me. The mix was perfect and the drums sounded melodic and dynamic, and they went deep.

I wish there was a recording that could come close to capturing Nigel's sound.

do you have any "records" in you collection now, other than Elton John, that give you tonality and impact...and sound like live drums?

This is worth looking into to test your system.
I also agree with lowering your noise floor to make the detail more revealing.
Lastly, have you rolled any tubes? Telefunken and premium Amperex can provide realistic sonics with deep bass extension.

A Decca or London cartridge ;-) . No, seriously. I saw and heard Nigel live with EJ in 1971, and his Slingerland drum kit sounded similar to Keith Moon’s Premieres: big and boomy!

Duncan Browne + Simon Phillips "Streets of fire".
Find it on vinyl or YouTube.

Duncan Browne, a genius sadly died young, was the founder
of the group Metro that did a legendary first record.

I would be remiss by not giving a shout out to my New Dark Matter, the quicker picker upper. NDM eliminates both visible red and invisible infrared stray laser light in CD players in less than a picosecond. Restoration of bass frequencies is one of the primary benefits of NDM. I estimate 50% or more of the bass information and dynamics is simply missing in action due to the scattered light problem.

geoff kait
machina dynamica
we do artificial atoms right

:-) All you need is the right powerful speakers, I won’t tell you which, but you can guess!