Hi all,
I'm somewhat new to the audiophile world, so I could use some basic advice on upgrading: I have a decent pair of speakers and decent amplification, but my universal player and receiver are low level. Which one should I upgrade first? Which upgrade would have the greatest benefit? I am reluctant to invest in a new player with the sacd/dvda format war still going on and the hddvd/blueray war looming on the horizon...So, am I better off getting first a good preamp/processor, or what?

Let me share some strange thoughts I have lately

I was very interested in seeing the review of the Bozak Concert Grand. I became interested in hifi during high school, and the best system I normally heard was my uncle's KLH-9 system. The treble and midrange were incredible (provided you were sitting in the 3-foot wide sweet spot). Even though my uncle had a biamped subwoofer, the KLH-9 had constrained dynamics. In short, that was my reference system while growing up.

Ok, so I'm from Texas and grew up listening to Country. Nobody equates the love of Country music with audiophelia. You might be surprised at the level of audio reproduction in the Country music world.

I would venture to say that the quality of reproduction in Country music (in general) wipes the floor with the reproduction of mainstream rock and pop.

Anybody else around here enjoy Country?

Concerning a pair of floorstanding loudspeakers, at about what price range is the the peak of the curve on a price/performance basis? In other words, what is the price range, beyond which the law of diminishing returns starts to kick in? I'm talking about over-all audio performance. One thousand dollars per pair? Two Thousand? I'm just curious and would like to see if there is any kind of general concensus about it.

Has anyone listened to this budget player and if so, how does it compare to the non modified 67se?

I'm looking to upgrade my front end in my home office system that currently has the 67se. I may stretch for the 8260, but considering the age of the 67 I'm curious if the newer technology in digital has significantly advanced to the degree that the 5400 might be considerably better than the dated 67.

I was curious why the last few Arcam CD players don't include HDCD? I ordered the FMJ CD36 and have a FMJ CD33 to use in the interim while I wait. The 33 sounds incredible...