I think you should do some serious listening to you system. Sometimes, the music is disappointing because the recording and mastering are poor. I've noticed that some tunes that I love sound just awful on my system. It's not my system's fault, because it is just revealing what is put into it. If you find a clear pattern of weakness in your system after some critical listening, then it is time to consider changes in components/cables or other tweaks.
I'm a strong believer in the "source is all important" school of audiophilia. When you think about it, there's nothing that a preamp, amp, cable or speaker can do to improve what is fed into it. You may be able to add different colorations, but that's about all a different cable, amp or speaker can do for you. What you ideally want is to is have your system "get out of the way" of the source component.
Trying to "tune" a system with cabling should be your final consideration. Decide what CD player, amp/preamp and speakers you like first. There's an incredible number of dogmatic cable gurus around, each one proclaiming that a certain cable will cure the problem in your system. Beware, switching cables endlessly is an exercise in futility. In my experience, you will probably notice more of a difference when switching interconnects rather than when changing speaker cables.
You should think about auditioning a new CD player or DAC before buying expensive cabling. Find a good dealer who will help you. Don't trade with dealers that want to sell you a box a force your out the door. Good dealers usually offer auditions of their equipment before the sale. Trying out cables on the used market is an excellent idea when you get to that point. No matter what the "experts" say, a given cable may sound quite different in one system in comparison to another. There's no substitute for listening and deciding what you like the most. Enjoy the music, don't drive yourself crazy worrying about the wires!
T.H.
I'm a strong believer in the "source is all important" school of audiophilia. When you think about it, there's nothing that a preamp, amp, cable or speaker can do to improve what is fed into it. You may be able to add different colorations, but that's about all a different cable, amp or speaker can do for you. What you ideally want is to is have your system "get out of the way" of the source component.
Trying to "tune" a system with cabling should be your final consideration. Decide what CD player, amp/preamp and speakers you like first. There's an incredible number of dogmatic cable gurus around, each one proclaiming that a certain cable will cure the problem in your system. Beware, switching cables endlessly is an exercise in futility. In my experience, you will probably notice more of a difference when switching interconnects rather than when changing speaker cables.
You should think about auditioning a new CD player or DAC before buying expensive cabling. Find a good dealer who will help you. Don't trade with dealers that want to sell you a box a force your out the door. Good dealers usually offer auditions of their equipment before the sale. Trying out cables on the used market is an excellent idea when you get to that point. No matter what the "experts" say, a given cable may sound quite different in one system in comparison to another. There's no substitute for listening and deciding what you like the most. Enjoy the music, don't drive yourself crazy worrying about the wires!
T.H.