If I upgrade the amp first, I might squeeze more out of my current speakers - which are not as bad —but will their awkward placement limit the improvement?
I reviewed Venere 2.5 and you should upgrade your speakers and do that first and then choose an amp that has sufficient power to drive them properly and synergize with them sonically. Your room warrants either floorstanders or monitors with at least one — and preferably two — subs. And yes, speaker placement is absolutely killing your performance. Don’t waste your money on better equipment if you plan on keeping the speakers on bookshelves and just continue to enjoy what you have. 95% of all good speakers will want at least a couple feet from the back wall to have sufficient room to breathe and fully open up and balance properly. Get the speakers right first — find the ones that really blow you away, and then everything else flows from there. The speakers are the only component that physically interacts with both your ears and your room, which is why it’s absolutely critical to get that really right. Your Node could continue to be very serviceable and much better (as a streamer only) if you add an external linear power supply from the likes of Teddy Pardo, SBooster, or LHY. If you’re using the DAC in the Node you’ll also need a better DAC to do your new system justice. If you share what improvements you’re looking for and what sound characteristics are most important to you, you’ll get some really good and targeted recommendations here. Just my $0.02 off the top FWIW, and best of luck. Incidentally, what electronics and speakers have you heard thus far that you really liked?