everything sounded great until the upgrade

@grislybutter 

😊… you’ll get it. 

grislybutter

just a couple of points of interest,                                                                               

a lot of 70s rock albums were great compositions, but with the exception of a few labels (Eg, 1st pressing Columbia's, some DECA's, Deutsche Grammophon) the actual recordings, and the quality of the vinyl being used by the other labels was crapola. Your A3.2 may be a revealing piece of audio gear, and brutal when exposing sh%$ recordings your 2252B didn't divulge.

As for analog VS digital sources, I have two sets of reference speakers, a pair of 946 Focal Electra's and a pair of Meadowlark Heron hot rod's. To save space, lets just say both the analog & digital sources are snob set-ups with the hat tipping to the analog source. The Meadowlark's sound better on my digital source, and it has a tube pre-amp section. I don't know why, but I'm ascertaining the Meadowlark's were voiced using digital gear. 

In your case (don't take this personally) the A3.2 is pretty well engineered, it may be revealing that your cd player is not of the quality you thought it was.

My last point is ..... some gear just doesn't go with some gear. On top of that, perhaps your ears just don't dig Musical Fidelites sonic signature, and the A3.2 isn't your cup of tea???

I'm just saying.

@thehorn 

What do you think about the newly printed LPs?

Of course! It's not personal, it's about the #$%@#! sound. 

I have avoided this word all my life, but here it comes: "SYNERGY"!

That's what missing downstream from my system.

I have experimented a lot over the weekend and what I am missing with the A3.2 for the warmth, I get back with other aspects - such as details, highs, depth. So it may or may not be my cup of tea if warmth is my preference ,

Hey grislybutter,

Don't avoided the word "SYNERGY", it's really prevalent in audio, & essential for putting together a system/package. For you, the days of having a really good system based on having a good pair of speakers are gone. Finito.

Getting back to synergy, a friend had this KILLER system on paper, but his big buck M/C Benz Micro cartridge was picking up FM signals & nobody had a reason why. (Back to the drawing board).

The main thing Gris is not to get frustrated. You've gone from a 70's receiver, to a nice dual mono Integrated Amp, with separate power supplies & output transformers. You are in a state of metamorphosis & your ears don't know what to do with it.

This is actually a good thing, except it's going to cost you money, LOL. You now have a small Porsche engine (Musical Fidelity A3.2), which you're operating on Wal-Mart tires (your speakers).

Pretty hard to recommend a speaker when I know nothing about your room .... floor standers, book shelves, etc.

But if you're set on warm sounding speakers, you may want to consider vintage speakers, AR's, or Advents. Might want to look into ESS. Problem is they're collectability. They've gone from "get those old things out of here", to being double, triple, of their original price. And who knows what they've been through. IMHO, when you can get a pair of Paradigm monitor 9-v1's for under $500 CDN dollars, it's really hard to justify $1200 dollars for a pair of AR3's that sold for $95 bucks in 1975.

The worm has turned Gris & there's no turning back.

As for recordings, Acoustic Sounds, Inc is a good place to start.

https://store.acousticsounds.com/cat/5/Vinyl_Record

@thehorn 

I am forever dragged into the dark audiophile underworld and I shall never be satisfied nor understood by non-believers again 😀

Seriously. Isn't it a reasonable goal to make my existing speakers sound good? Just for a day before I move on..... . to your suggestions.

the main aspects for speakers:

bookshelf

room - open in one direction but 12'x20' - 3mx4m

I don't need big bass

has to sound good with both Gypsy Queen by Van Morrison and the first Gimme Some Lovin'