I'm thinking your answers - which are very helpful Hybrid81 - may alter the recommendations you get, especially the fact that we're talking about Spotify as the source, with a turntable in the future.
I have Spotify myself, and love it for the variety and convenience and discovering new artists. And it does sound good, better than listening to highly compressed MP3s of course, but as you have already discovered and acknowledged in your post above, it's not great. And the sound quality can vary dramatically, from beautiful to absolutely awful, depending on what they're using for their source. A great example is Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry", off the greatest hits album - I don't know why, but the bass is so horribly boosted that it's like listening in the back of a Honda CRX with 5 subwoofers, but not on the actual album, only on Spotify's version. I can't imagine trying to audition and pick speakers with Spotify as the source music. Actually, wouldn't critique any component based on Spotify, as much as I enjoy the service.
So I guess figure out what you plan to spend on a turntable, cartridge, and phono pre because I think your content source is obviously the weakest link in the chain, and even a $20,000 DAC won't change that, nor will the finest speakers in all the land.
After the turntable, look at new speakers - you're not crazy about what you have and speakers will change the results more than anything else, in my opinion, including the pre-amp and amp.
Hope some of this helps...most of the dudes on here know a heck of a lot more than I do. My system is pretty pedestrian compared to what most here have.
I have Spotify myself, and love it for the variety and convenience and discovering new artists. And it does sound good, better than listening to highly compressed MP3s of course, but as you have already discovered and acknowledged in your post above, it's not great. And the sound quality can vary dramatically, from beautiful to absolutely awful, depending on what they're using for their source. A great example is Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry", off the greatest hits album - I don't know why, but the bass is so horribly boosted that it's like listening in the back of a Honda CRX with 5 subwoofers, but not on the actual album, only on Spotify's version. I can't imagine trying to audition and pick speakers with Spotify as the source music. Actually, wouldn't critique any component based on Spotify, as much as I enjoy the service.
So I guess figure out what you plan to spend on a turntable, cartridge, and phono pre because I think your content source is obviously the weakest link in the chain, and even a $20,000 DAC won't change that, nor will the finest speakers in all the land.
After the turntable, look at new speakers - you're not crazy about what you have and speakers will change the results more than anything else, in my opinion, including the pre-amp and amp.
Hope some of this helps...most of the dudes on here know a heck of a lot more than I do. My system is pretty pedestrian compared to what most here have.