Most significant upgrade

Jimbojrjb,

You need to have Rives Audio analyze your room. They will draft a plan for your room. Most if not all of the recommendations can be done yourself.

I did Rives Level 2 and it completely transformed my room. I think this is a much better approach then just guessing were things should go. My room has corner traps (custom made. I paid someone to do this but I could have done it myself if I had the time) that are tuned to my room. I also have combinations of diffusors, absorbers, curved diffusors and a crazy wave thing on my ceiling. I don't know what else to call it.

My room is a dedicated listening room and therefore I did not have to hid my room treatments but this can be done and Rives will design accordingly.

Have Rives, or another professional, design a room treatment plan for you. You will feel like upgraded all of your components. How's that for most significant upgrade?

I think the point of all this is to motivate us to go to RMAF and have a great time debating till the sun rises:)

Table and arm.

Your question is very general in nature, so this has been my experience:

The best upgrade I ever made was to hire a set-up guy who really knows what he is doing. For the a small fraction of my total system cost, my listening pleasure went to a whole new level. I good dealership may be able to offer this service, but in my experience, it is difficult to find.

I used to think it was more about the equipment. People on forums and dealers trying to convince you that this special brand will make all the difference. I now realize it has more to do with the listener/room/speaker relationship and knowing how to optimize this. I continue to be amazed at how much better my system sounds now that it has been properly set-up. And I didn't spend any money on new/different equipment.

If you were asking about the differences between specific cartridges or preamps, that would be something else entirely.

DItto, very good advice, and one rarely taken, even by those pimping lot's of money into their systems - I suspect many don't know how good their systems can really be - sometimes WAF affects this important parameter:)