What to add to my system for best sound?

Julie,
Welcome to audiogon. Some simple suggestions:
1. Play with the speaker placement and room treatments first. There are some great posts about this.
2. As you can tell from the previous posts, there is no right answer. Trust your own ears.
3. A music system is only as good as its weakest link. Try to decide how much money you're willing to spend on hardware and balance that amount over the entire system. Save money for software (the most important part).

All the best to you with your quest for sonic nirvana.

Joel

I have a cheap $100 CD player (Yamaha - which I hope to upgrade soon) and a pair of Klipsch speakers I bought 8 years ago for $300 (your Axioms are better). I just bought a Jolida 1501rc integrated hybrid amp (tube pre-amp and ss amp) and was amzed at how much it improved the sound..check Underwood Hi-Fi for a good deal.

I would second the above recommendation...upgrade to a better amp and spent $400 on a CD...maybe Music Hall, which people seem to love.

David

Based on your comments...you "want the sound to draw you in more"(and more detail)...audiophiles call this "involvement"...and my many years of listening have brought me to this...you can upgrade your source and amp all you want(which in your case wouldnt hurt)...but to truly be immersed in a musical performance...there is nothing like a time/phase coherent speaker design...in your range: Vandersteen 1,Meadowlark swift, Green Mountain Europas(which I own)...of the 3...the Europas are the most detailed but require stands(always a hidden cost)...good luck...

Geoff --

I will not flame you. I agree that an upgrade in speakers is usually the biggest bang for the buck. And, not a controversial some people claim to hear it while others don't kind of thing like high end cables. The kind of obvious everyone hears it no doubt about it this sounds so
much better kind of thing.

But, I also believe you need some balance in a system. So, I also believe a good way to upgrade is to improve the
weakest link. In her system, I think the speakers are the
strongest link. At some point, you need better components to get the most out of your speakers and I believe that upgrading the other two components will help get more out of those speakers.

There is also a real noticeable difference between a receiver and an integrated amp or separates and I believe
her speakers have enough resolution to be able to hear the difference a nice integrated amp like the Jolida will make.

Further, I believe that digital technology has really improved and higher end technology is filtering down into
players at a lower price point. I have noticed a large
difference when a system is balanced; Nice speakers served by appropriate amplification being fed by a nice
CD player.

Finally, I believe there are some components that give a
much bigger bang for the buck and when one is on a budget,
it is best to seek out those types of components -- like
the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD player and the Jolida hybrid integrated.

Rsbeck, I agree with the need for balance that you and others speak of.

The argument that I am trying to pose (based on my 2 system experience) is that it takes a high quality speaker to hear the differences between amp/pre/cdp. And that I dont think a 500$ or 1000$ used speaker will have the resolution to pick up on much of a difference to justify the cost.
The dollars would be better spent on speakers where an audible difference and greater resolution is sure to be heard.