recommendation for a high end analog system

@chungjh

Don’t get me wrong. My current system sounds very good. But, I realized the difference with my friend’s system was not subtle.

I get it. When I purchased my SOTA Sapphire, it had no arm or cart. It has been a slow process (actually not that slow) in adding to my SOTA and realizing significant changes along the way. I first had to choose an arm, kinda got lucky on that, then replace my cartridge, then cables, then my phono preamp just recently. But I can tell you, even with my old cart and pre, it blew me away how much better my SOTA and arm was vs my previous rig from the very start. IMO, the SOTA is a great table and platform in which to build around. You don’t have to worry about over-spending on an arm, a cart, or a phono pre, as the SOTA is more than capable of being the ‘base’ to a very good rig.

Beyond the vinyl rig, yea, there is your amp/pre/speakers, but you seem to have some pretty good equipment right now. Regardless if you change those, you want your turntable rig at the highest level you are comfortable spending on it. You will be much happier while playing back an LP with a good turntable rig, regardless of the back end.

my money would be on differences in room and system setup

I bought a 1989 SOTA TT with vacuum/Sumiko MMT arm/Dennon 103R retyped with elliptical/sapphire cantilever. ... What is the best way to get a noticeable improvement in my system without breaking the bank...

Change your cartridge.
Sumiko is nothing special, Denon designed for SUPER HEAVY TONEARMS. 

Start with a new cartridge if you want to improve the sound, this is where the difference can be huge! 

I'd spend as much as you can afford on a different cartridge.

The equipment appears to be worthy of spending much more than what a Denon can be purchased for.

Get a Miyajima mc cartridge! A worthy competitor to a Lyra! A Kuzma 4-Point arm would be a significant upgrade too!