What to add to my system for best sound?

Tube gear is good for simple music like vocal. No good in pop music. Since your Onkyo receiver shall have DSP filter (different music format like, Drama, Music Hall, Theatre, etc), I suggest you should work on a SACD player/Universal Player/redbook CD player/DAC, etc

Source is very important in a stereo system. Bad source wont have good sound even applying decent amplifier.

My advice is always the same.What have you done with the room.The room is the biggest variable.Start to read about room acoustic treatments.Better if its a dedicated room.My room looks like a room treatment sales showroom.Tubetraps,acoustic panel absorbers,RPG skyline diffusers.If you are handy you could make all of them.Before you give up on your gear do a little experimenting with this stuff.Not that new amps and subs and cd players are out of the question,its that you need to ,"Tune the room".Good luck and pick up a copy of stereophile guide to hometheater and start to read Russ Hershelmann's articles.It may seem over whelming at first but soon you will start to hear the same buzz words and it will all come together.KG

I have to take exception to Lafish's statement on the alleged limitations of tubed amplifiers: "...good for simple music like vocal. No good for pop music." C'mon, now - this is ridiculous as a blanket assertion, and easily disproved if you drop by my house sometime.

Julie, without recommending tubes over SS or vice-versa, I would heartily endorse Kotta's sentiment that you don't yet know what your speakers are capable of, considering what you're driving them with now. No, I am not familiar with your Axioms, but they are apparently a pretty well regarded speaker in their catagory, and from your description of the rest of your system I would hazard a guess that they are the strongest link in the chain you've got at present.

I think your plan to check out a good integrated amp would make sense on your stated budget. If you want recommendations that are meaningful, you should probably tell us about your sonic and listening preferences, including your tastes in both music and playback volume, as well as the size of your listening room.

Pick up copies of The Complete Guide to High-End Audio by Robert Harley and/or Good Sound by Laura Dearborn. They'll tell you most everything you'd want to know about the subject. Once you know more, you'll be able to become a smarter buyer and reach your goals much quicker.
Eddie

First thing I would do is take the money you were going to spend on higher end speaker cables and put it back in your pocket. At this stage of the game, you will get far more bang for your bucks by upgrading your source [CD player] and your amplification. In the meantime, believe it or not, I would use 12 gauge OFC wire cables for my speakers. You can get it for about 30 cents per foot and,
along with upgraded amplification and CD player, will give you a much bigger upgrade than scrimping on your other components for higher end speaker cables. If you are having a hard time deciding between tubes and solid state, you might check out the Jolida JD1501 Hybrid Integrated Amp. It uses tubes AND Solid State. For your source, again, if you like a tube sound, check out the AH! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD Player. At this stage of the game, I would take a look at CD/SACD players, but -- frankly -- I would hold off on SACD until your budget is higher -- maybe on your next round of upgrades. Prices of SACD players will come down, higher end SACD technology will filter down and in the meantime, you can be enjoying the heck out of your CD player. Just my opinion.