changing overall tone

you can do quite a bit to make your system sound more lively with interconnects/ac cords and power conditioners. Although the money you could potentially spend on those would more than easily pay for a new preamp or amplifier (or both). An upgrade in cables could likely expose potential weaknesses elsewhere as well (i.e. make things too bright/etchy with certain equipment), so be cognizant of that as well.

Aren't these speakers supposed to go with a sub?

You may be missing the oompf of the bass and therefore it sounds lifeless.

Goertz AG series speaker cable will definitely add more high end tilt.

Stringreen's headphone suggestion is an excellent thought. I like my system, but it's in a difficult room (you know, wife and kids involved).

A sub-$200 pair of headphones (eg Grado SR-80 or 125) can add a new dimension to a mid-fi system; I love my SR-80's.

On another note, don't those Dali's have the twin tweeter? I'm surprised you find them "neutral to dull sounding"; I more often read of them being accused of being too bright.

What phono amp are you using? The rest of your system seems to be good products for the money. I would definitely agree that you should not be looking to wire to help make the system sound better. Audioquest is a respected brand.

..another thought.... Use headphones. You can get state of the art sound very inexpensively. Check out www.headphone.com

You have a system that brings music to you. It has no pretense to be high end...work toward a new amp, preamp, speakers...then think about cable, power conditioners, resonance control devices, etc. If you don't have the budget now, just enjoy your system until your budget permits.

Nope - the biggest factors in descending order of effect are (1) speakers, (2) room acoustics, (3) amplifier. If you want more lively sound without spending significant money, adjust the acoustics. Sharp hard edges that reflect sound should make your system livelier. This is pretty much the opposite of what people generally do to adjust room acoustics; the more typical problem is that the room is too reflective. Try that and see what happens. Dali's are nice speakers; kind of soft, but nice speakers so I wouldn't do anything wtih them - you may want to take a look at the amp next. Another very recent thread expressed the same type problem but with a reference to source material (CD's) look at my response to that OP for my take on the Rotel sound and my suggested alternatives.