Best Stereo Upgrade Value

It's all about synergy.  Matching your speakers to your room and your music preferences.  Matching your amp to your speakers.  Finding the source that emphasizes  the qualities you find valuable.  The current buzz word seems to be musicality over micro detail.  Where on the spectrum do you see yourself and how much time and effort are you willing to spend to get there or is it just the dollars.  Both ways work but it's also possible to invest a lot and not achieve your goal if you aren't specific what you are looking for.

For me it's taken years maybe even decades to learn what I want to hear, what's important musically and how to get there.  My approach certainly isn't the only way but it sounds good to me and I feel I'm on the right track.

In my case, it was the pre-amp - Townshend Allegri Reference - the most expensive element of my humble system.

Getting rid of the Linn.

Going from my much loved Kef Ref 4s which I had for 20 yrs to my Kef Ref 5s.

WoW - different class.

Speakers. I remember when I first started out 23+ years ago and going from Bose to Definitive Technology to B&W and then finally to Dynaudio. Each time offered a pretty significant jump in improvement. But pre Dyn nothing came close to the improvement the Danes offered. That first moment I sat for a true listen after my Audience 82's were broken in is EXACTLY what this hobby for me was all about. I never knew it could get that good. I will never ever forget and each time I listened thereafter I knew that was it and I had finally found what I was searching for...

@aewarren your reply made me laugh out loud! So true my friend. Nothing like listening in complete darkness but I have had more than 1 accident with that damn glass of wine😂😂!