Best upgrade for the money ?

I have to agree with Dekay. Room treatments are a must, and everyone ignores the effect a room has on a system. Most people end up buying equipment that sounds good in their room, and never experienced the full potential of the equipment they didn't buy because they never dealt with the anomalies in their acoustic environment. They basically tune their room with electronics, which is very expensive and never really hits the mark unless you just get lucky. Even changing a cable or doing a tweak makes a difference in how your room reacts to your system. Rememeber, speakers move air. If you change the way the speaker moves it, the anomalies in your acoustic environment will react differently. And just about everything you do in front of the speaker does change it. I doubt very much that anyone can claim to have a completely dead room. This really hit home for me today before reading your post. I was one of the first buyers of Argent Room Lenses, and they have been in my system for 5 years. They are the oldest component in my system. Why? Because they apply to every change I make in my system. They are moveable and versatile. Today, I was auditioning the new Audio Magic Clairvoiant power cord ($1500 - review on Sounstage to come). Most of the changes I liked, some I didn't. Then I started moving the room lenses, and was able to "tune out" all of the problems while keeping the improvements. Next, I put some Shakti on-lines on one of the other power cords. Again, some good things, some bad. The Shaktis made things more forward in the soundstage. I moved the center and outer lenses back 6 inches, and voila'....the soundstage deepened. Now the midrange was too recessed. I bought the middle lens forward three inches. Perfect! Now I had the blackness, rich harmonics, and detail without the forward presentation I had before. Without them, I would have never realized the potential of either of these devices. There are many reasons people don't do room treatments. They aren't exactly beautiful if you have to use your stereo room as living space. They aren't as much fun to buy as something that plugs in, hums, gets hot, and has pretty lights. And there is always that intagible "I don't think it will work" because doubters have never ventured there, and it's easier to dismiss the idea than experiment with it and gain the knowledge. I see those people posting comments on this site all the time. Used and sometimes new lenses go for around $600. to $700. Electronic acoustic tuning devices also exist, but are considerably more expensive. They plug in and have the pretty lights, and don't make your living space look like a gothic cathedral like the Room Lenses (my kids dig them, though). Ever read a rave review of one component, and then read a poor review of the same component from a different source? Or did you ever try something that everyone else says is good, but it sucked in your system? Without room treatments, you'll never know how good your next component really is.