New speakers and guidance

Thanks to all for the responses.  Upgrading the phono pre seems like the easy decision thus far, and it will be done in either of the two scenarios.  
Any thoughts on whether upgrading to Daedalus Apollos is a better path vs used Ulysses?  If I go used, I would have funds to spend on upgraded turntable as well.  Going with new Apollos wouldn’t leave me enough funds to do so. 

I appreciate the collective knowledge and opinions!

I reviewed the Daedalus Ulysses and owned it for a while. You can see my review at Dagogo.com 

Having worked with and owned the Ulysses for some time, here are my summary characteristics of strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths: Warm, fairly easy to fit into any system without stridency for top end brightness, "full" sounding bass, and openness off a quasi-line array configuration, taller speaker with potential to have sound stage at what is, imo, proper height. 

Weaknesses: Less coherence in center image, and some smearing associated with duplicity of driver sets, bass drivers separated by a fair bit so as to allow hearing both contributing to the bass (same as the Legacy Audio Whisper in that regard), limited dynamic capacity with mid-sized woofers, and boxy colorations. 

Those who would argue with me re: my description of characteristics - I'm not interested in a debate. This is relative to a wide range of other speakers I have reviewed and owned. 

If you wish to ask questions in regard to any of the speakers in my virtual system, feel free. One that is not pictured, but is well worth mentioning is the Tri-Art Series B 5 Open Speaker with Crossover. Look for my recent review at Dagogo.com 

Don't laugh at it. The 5 Open is shockingly good, and frankly has bested all but the biggest, most expensive speakers I have handled. It has far superior coherence to the Ulysses, does not have the box coloration contribution, and has more formidable, easeful bass that reaches lower than the Ulysses. Its secret weapon is an attenuator that allows the 8" full range driver to be dialed in precisely for any room/installation. That is worth its weight in gold. I am astonished at the sound quality for about $5K with crossovers. It would sound like you took your SF's, fed them steroids, and grew them to about 5' tall. 

If you cared to go in a different direction in terms of the main driver, you could consider the PureAudioProject Trio15, which allows exchange of full range drivers to give you a suite of performance from full range dynamic to horn, and even an option for Heil driver. It's a different ball game with a different set of characteristics, but some alike the 5 Open due to being open baffle. Also written up for Dagogo.com (I wrote of three iterations; Tang Band, Voxativ, and Horn 1)

I would recommend you first tried your current gear with the 5 Open speakers. 

@douglas_schroeder thank you for the extensive thoughts. I did read your articles on the Ulysses and Tri Art speakers. 
I have to admit that the appearance of the Tri Art speakers is a bit different.  I am probably more inclined to stay with a box type speaker than PAP or Tri Art. Your thoughts on the Ulysses however, may help guide me down the path to the Apollos as they may yield more flexibility in room.  
I do have a Herron phono stage coming that I will get to try out next week. So that will be interesting to hear the change from my current ARC. 
Thanks again for the thoughts. 

Annika, you're most welcome! The Daedalus speakers are always warm and inviting, and will not be fatiguing to the ear. I wish you success in your search.  

I have had the Herron in my system for almost 2 weeks, and it has been a nice upgrade.  It has brought increased resolution and dynamics that I was looking to bring into my system.  Thanks to the group for prodding me along for this upgrade. 

I also spoke to Lou from Daedalus and I am going to order a pair of the Apollos.  I also discussed amplification with Lou, and for my situation, Lou thought I may enjoy the LTA Ultraliner if I would like a change from the Mac.  

It sounds like I have a 3 month wait on the Apollos, so it will be a while any evaluation and decision needs to be made.