Suggestions For Analog Upgrade - Tonearm or Phono Stage?

Seems to me your 'arm and phono stage are already at a pretty high pedigree and level of performance. I might humbly suggest you pursue a better cartridge.

My equipment is not at the level yours is and I was blown away when I replaced my Dyna 17D3 with a Shelter 901. One of the best upgrades I've ever experienced in my system. From what I've been reading the Hana Umami might be a solid option. Or one of the upper range Shelters, though there don't seem to be many reviews of them.

sbanks, nice system. Tough questions.

Nagra is known for making excellent equipment. I have to think you would need to spend serious money to better it.

IMHO the weakest parts of your system are the tonearm and cartridge.
The tonearm is stable not neutral balance. It is going to hunt for it's balance point and VTF will change with elevation. The vertical bearing is too high increasing the warble with changes in elevation. These two issues make a big difference in the solidity of the sound and image. In your price range you should look for a Kuzma 4 Point 9. This is a killer tonearm for the money and it will fit on the Nova. The other two that will fit are the Schroder CB and the Reed 2G but they are more expensive. The Tri Planar is an excellent arm but it will not fit. It's rear end gets in the way. You could modify the plinth cover by cutting away the section behind the arm board but this would not look so hot. The cover can always be replaced. I just read about the Helius Omega arm, another small British company. It looks like a good design and it looks like it would fit and it is reasonably priced. The final suggestion would be to look for a good used SME V. It fits perfect and it really is a very good arm. 

For a cartridge I would get either a Soundsmith Sussurro or Voice. They are exactly the same cartridge except the Voice has larger coils so it is higher output. The Sussurro is $2000 more expensive. I discussed this by email with Mr Ledermann asking him why. His response, "Different market." "That's all?" I replied. "Yup." I bought the Voice. The cantilever/stylus assembly is a work of art. The stylus looks very similar to the Gyger S, the quietest stylus I have ever used. Can't wait to hear it. 
IMHO the very best arm is the Schroder CB. Because the tonearm wire exits via the bottom of the spindle, under the tonearm board, it installs brilliantly on a Sota. It is neutral balance, the vertical bearing is at record level, the bearings have insanely low friction and the anti skating mechanism is magnetic, no friction. I has one wire from cartridge to phono stage. There are not intervening contacts or connections. It is a $5000.00 arm. I have not yet seen one used or off demo but neither have I looked hard. I think next I would go for the SME V as it also installs nicely on the Sota.  There are a lot of them on the used market. The Kuzma and Reed arms are excellent but the tonearm cables are a separate item and plug into the arms above the tonearm board. You can make it work but it won't be as slick. The Helius arm I have never used or even handled so you would be on your own there but it does look like a good design and the cable exits below.

Have you thought about subwoofers? You can turbocharge your Sound Labs that way. With music that is dynamic with a lot of bass it makes a very significant difference in overhead and distortion levels at volume. 

Thanks for the responses. 

@markusthenaimnut, yeah I'd expect the Shelter 901 to be much better than a 17D3. I've owned a 501mkII in the past which was decent on a Nottingham Space Deck. But the XX2 is at a completely different level.

With the depreciation of cartridges, I'm more inclined to stick with mine until after moving up on both phono stage and tonearm. When I do, I'll be biased towards brands with trade-in options vs. the 3rd party re-tip route. I know that's a controversial subject, but IMHE, many re-tips lose some of the characteristics of the cart's original performance. Cheers,
Spencer

Here's what I would do.  Take $4k from the phone stage and $3k from the tonearm and get an Allnic H3000 used phono stage (tubed bliss) for probably 7 grand.  Then save your money and do the tone arm the next time you have some disposable income.  

@mijostyn,

Yeah, the 4Point and the Schroeder CB both would be great if I could find the right deal. I've recently seen offerings for Schroeder Model 2, but I'm not quite as pumped for that model.

I'm rarely enthusiastic about newer brands and those with a smaller following. Over the years I've learned that many of those lead to big losses when reselling down the road. I'd be hesitant to pull the trigger on a Helius even if I knew it to sound great, which I don't. 

The SME V is a safe choice, holds it's value and is known to be a great match, but I'm not thrilled with the lack of adjustments relative to these other great arms. 

Are you of the opinion that updating the Audiomods to Series VI would yield only a modest enhancement, not worth the time and effort? 

On subs, no thanks. I've heard subs w/Soundlabs and as not wanting to derail the conversation, let's just leave it at pros/cons to doing so. A Swarm might be worthwhile sonically, but wouldn't work in my space.

Cheers,
Spencer