But I think that table is better than that Grado and if you like the Grado sound, I know I do(!), you might upgrade to a wood bodied Grado.

Also, consider using the same brand cables and where needed or wanted, equipment supports throughout. Nordost calls this the "foundation theory" and recommend it even if Nordost isn't what you prefer for cabling and accessories. I tend to agree with it. Also, this way of doing business removes variables and as you move up to better cables through the line you tend to not get any real surprises.

Good luck.

I had the MMF 2.1 in my system for some time (I now have the 7.1), and the 2.1 is really quite good.

I think you need to get a better cartridge, and very definitely a better CD player!

Spending money on amplification would be a total waste of money until you upgrade your sources, which are not all that good IMO.

The Benz MC Silver phono cartridge will totally transform your LP sound quality; that is $425 that you will be delighted that you put out.

For a huge improvement in CD sound, get the OPPO BDP-103 direct from OPPO for $500. Again, that will be a huge improvement. The Cayin uses old DAC chips that are 3rd-rate by current standards, and is just not very good.

But let's be realistic; crappy CDs and records exist, and no player can make up for crap that was badly recorded and/or engineered in the first place.

Garbage IN means garbage OUT!

I will say this though; I used to think that up to 30% of my CD collection was crap. Now, with my OPPO, I would say that less than 5% is really poor. Lots of CDs that sounded bad on my old player sound very good or even excellent on the OPPO! The State-of-the-art DAC chips of the OPPO make a world of difference in sound quality.

I would also recommend that you get the Musical Fidelity V90-LPS phono preamp; I think that will be well worth the cost.

Your amplifier and speakers are far better than the rest of your system IMO, so that is last place I would advise spending any money.

P.S.- I have had very good luck, in general, with Audioquest interconnect cables, and very BAD sound quality from almost every Monster cable. The results with others have been a mixed bag.

I've used Audioquest for years and tried many others, but find myself coming back to the Audioquest/Kimber lines.

The only component you have that I have direct experience with is the integrated. It's a very nice amp and the last thing I would worry about...other than tube rolling if you get the itch. I did and it responds predictably, though it has plenty of virtues right out of the box, like a huge, powerful presense and staging well beyond most other amps anywhere near its price. Play around with the 8 vs 4 ohm speaker taps and the ultralinear vs triode modes on the fly if you haven't already. I thought it had more grunt and boogie juice in ultralinear, though I can see why some people liked the triode mode better.

Cartridge, phone preamp and cables would be my suspicions for the most improvement for the money spent. Then tube rolling the output tubes, followed by the small signal tubes, especially if any of the Chinese tubes remain in the amp.

I thought the amp sounded best with 6CA7 outputs. They seemed to add some texture to the mids that the amp seemed to need. To me, it had a bit of a lack of valve sound, though not really solid state sounding. Which is pretty damned impressive for a tube amp, but I enjoy the tube colorations and bent it that direction.

Good luck. That's a very nice, well put together system just like it is. Certainly to the point of having to evaluate whether you simply changed the sound or improved the sound by changing out partnering gear. Don't be too quick to evaluate the changes as lasting improvements or mere alterations that can seduce at first, but grow tiring over a longer listen.

It's a great cartridge. You'll love it.