So what would you recommend for my next upgrade?

I am not sure what your budget is for making changes, but based on my experience I would recommend you make fewer changes and take bigger steps, that is instead of spending on a bunch of tweaks, make significant component changes.

I would start with your analog front end given that you have 4,000 records.

My former turntable was a Rega P-25, which is a good record player. You have a Rega Planar 3 which is worth about $500 on the used market. I would sell it and buy a used Basis 2000 or 2001 with a Basis/Rega arm or if possible a Basis Vector arm. this will cost about $1,300 with the Rega arm or $2,400 with a Basis Vector arm. If you buy the Rega arm TT you can watch for a Basis Vector arm and upgrade later.

You could also upgrade your cartridge and phono pre first. Liberty, Lehman, and many others make a good phono pre in the $1,000 - $2000 range.

Cartridge is a matter of system matching and personal preference, so while suggestions are great you really need to hear it in your system to decide.

So overall I would take the front end of the system to an overall higher performance level, before tweaking the performance. Changing my TT and especially the tonearm made a very significant difference in my system.

Have fun finishing and fine tuning your system

Jperry - well "bigger steps" is an understatement. Hold on a minute while I catch my breath...:8) Not to be timid (I suddenly am) but TT + arm + cart + phono pre are probably well past my courage level not to mention my near term investment limit.

However, the cart + pre was, in fact, my thinking recently. But the challenge for me is how the heck do you do system matching with cartridges & preamps? There's very little in the way of shops up here in NH so component tryouts are really a challenge. Any reputable online places that will do business that way?

I would upgrade the speakers. The Thiels need more power/current to perform at there best. IMO the 1.5's don't justify spending more money on an amp/pre or even a larger Bryston intergrated. Since you like the Thiel sound think outside the box(lol)and consider a Martin Logan-ElectroMotion.

Not a bad idea...however, if he's content with the Thiels, I would suggest auditioning (not buying) a larger, more powerful amp.

A couple of you have asked about my current amp (Bryston B60) or suggested something more powerful would be worth pursuing. I had, for a while, their bigger amp (3b) using it with several well regarded preamps. It never really floated my boat as it were. That may have been set up and room tuning, not sure. I don't listen loud very often. Like most people, I enjoy some lower end richness but recently - with my new near field setup - both the sparkle I'm hearing and the almost magical sound staging have been a real pleasure. I'm curious what, if anything, a more powerful amp might bring to the party. As always, thanks for the wisdom....

Dancud, I was not sure of your budget so I was clearly a bit high.

My suggestion with regard to a phono preamp and cartridge is the Ray Samuels Nighthawk F-117 (about $500 - $550 used) and the Dynavector 17D3 (about $500 used). I own both and they are great performers and high value items.

The Dynavector should work on the P-3 with no VTA adjustment. It worked fine on my P-25

They both are seen occasionally on Audiogon and sell quickly, especially the F-117.

I would buy the phono preamp first to make sure you have enough gain for a low output moving coil cartridge

No free trial, but if you buy at the right price you should be able to sell for about the same and only be out shipping.

Good luck with your search and have fun.