Where’s My Weakest Link?

The Carver pre-amp needs to go no doubt. I had same pre-amp. Replaced on advice of another Agoner at the time with Audio Research sp16 and bingo....huge improvement in every way.

Any good quality tube pre-amp should work well with that amp’s 100kohm input impedance. Or for something SS maybe consider a Benchmark pre/DAC combo unit. That is likely a step up from the DAC in the Bluesound as well.

You don’t mention using a turntable so no need for phono input into pre-amp.

After that, maybe the amp goes too if age/operating condition is in fact an immediate problem.

If pre-amp and amp must go, if it were me, I would strongly consider a good modern hybrid integrated amp along the lines of Rogue Pharoah.   You could then experiment with an external DAC with the Bluesound later if you felt any need.

Lot's of choices but probably time to start seriously considering replacing that older gear.

Good luck.

I thought maybe the weakest link was the wire bringing AC power to the room. So I went under the house and pasted all the 30 feet or so I was able to get at. It was indeed impressive. Then I opened my speakers and pasted the few feet from the binding posts to the drivers. The improvement was so much more I could hardly believe it. 

Clearly the internal speaker wire was a weaker link than the power wire. It was just impossible to know until it was tried and compared. 

Both improvements together cost less than $300. There is absolutely no component on the market new or used for less than ten times that amount that would provide this much improvement. Yet there are guys here who "think" that "probably" the stuff the OP has is "aging" and so they guess it should be the first to go.

By that logic I would have to throw out the speakers I just heard sound so wonderful. They are after all 20 years old and so the caps are "aging" and must be the weak link. 

This would all be hilarious were it not for the fact the OP might actually rely on some of this truly awful "logic".

Anybody who recommends changing the wiring in the speakers before upgrading a low cost preamp that is generations old is giving advice that is not logical. Many advances in technology since Carver's preamp.

I'll agree that adding a dedicated line should be one of the first upgrades to a system.

Thanks all, it sounds like the amp/pre amp need to go. I will check out the Rega options. Does anyone have experience with  the Yamaha A-S801 Integrated Amplifier?

Anybody who recommends changing the wiring in the speakers before upgrading a low cost preamp that is generations old is giving advice that is not logical. Many advances in technology since Carver's preamp.

Anybody?

I'll agree that adding a dedicated line should be one of the first upgrades to a system.

Seriously??!

Sorry, but the snark isn't nearly so effective when used on someone who actually knows what he's talking about. Its my biggest complaint with this site. Not the dozen or so who clog it up with pages of indecipherable blather. Not the ones who don't have a clue. The ones who pretend to know and try and pass themselves off as experienced when in fact they really have only the slightest tiniest bit more than a clue. If that.

The fact is its not "anybody" making those recommendations. Its somebody with actual experience having tried and compared everything mentioned. Which is why I - not anybody, me- am NOT recommending a dedicated line. Easily the worst of all the suggestions made so far!

Unlike "anybody" I have actual experience with all these things. The ancient amp. The speaker cables. The dedicated line. I have done all these things. Actually done. Not read about. Not thought about. DONE!

Compared. Three different dedicated lines. More wires and mods than there is time to list. Its really sad to see anybody who hasn't done these things pretend to know more than somebody who has. Worse than sad. Pathetic.