What should be the first component when upgrading?

It's funny that you would agree with the "front end first" recommendations, yet the (positive) difference you heard was from upgrading the end of the chain (via the headphones). Think about it...

ALWAYS buy the best speakers you can afford and then worry about the rest.

-RW-

Rlwainwright, I guess you are right ... I kind of got lost in this whole gear thing, it's kind of overwhelming and addicting at the same time. Thanks for putting me in my place =)

It's just that I want to get the best system for the money and want to make sure I'll be getting the best "bang for the buck". Especially with a limited budget, I want to purchase the things that will make the biggest difference 'now', not once I spend the rest of the money on the other things.

Rethinking my strategy, I'm going to go for the Wharfedales and an integrated amp because right now those seem to be my weakest link. Unless you guys 'really' think that a serparate cd player is going to make a HUGE difference to what I'm currently using for gear right now, that's what I'll go for.

Thanks Rlwainwright

I think taht the problem here is that you are looking at a system that is limited at all links. Sorry but that is the truth. So you will only hear limited improvements until all pieces have been brought up to another level, IMO. Rl makes a good point about what you heard with the Grados. They are not all that forgiving and if you liked what you had, you might want to consider speakers first. You can get some pretty decent used speakers and CDPs for about the $700 you were considering. Maybe a Music Hall CD-25 which has dropped in price since the 25.2 came out. Probably about $300, which would leave you $400 for speakers. Not sure what monitors are out there at that price range, but if you do a search for used monitors or best speaker for small room our used bookshelf you should get some good answers. Off the top of my head, NHT, Energy, Omegas are good choices but here are lots out there.

The chicken or the egg controversy is well documented. I stand by source>amplification>speakers based on this theory: A great front-end will bring out the best in average speakers, whereas an average front-end will do nothing to bring out the best in great speakers. In an ideal world, speakers are designed to reproduce the signal they are fed. If the signal is crappy, speakers can't fix it. IMO, it's speakers last, just ask Ivor at Linn.

If you are going to do the front end and the speakers at the same time, I would suggest buying one of the current DVD players (Pioneer, Panasonic come to mind) considered to have decent sound for around $100-$150 and allocating the rest for speakers. I currently use a Panasonic DVD S-47 and it's a very competent player. I also have a pretty decent analog front end. In the past, I've owned a much more expensive, "audiophile approved" CD player, and in my opinion, you are giving up very little or nothing at all using a properly set up and tweaked DVD player with decent sound quality when compared to the "audiophile wannabee" players in the $300-$400 range or even well beyond that. Hell, I just put together a great system for my son using an older RCA DVD player (which I replaced with a Toshiba and then the Panasonic which is a fair bit better), a Pioneer PL 12-D turntable I bought at a garage sale for $5, an AT 120E cartridge purchased new and a Project Phono Box purchased used for $50, my retired Audiolab 8000A, and some JPW P1 speakers I purchased used. My system retails for a ton more money than this one. Is it 10X or 20X better? No way. It's a bit lacking in resolution, refinement and the extreme low end, but it's very musically satisfying and bags of fun to listen to!

You don't need to spend a lot to get great sound and most digital gear is grossly overpriced. Providing some decent access to used and reasonably cheap records, which fortunately I have, I'd rather listen to the $5 turntable with the $60 cartridge I just bought than probably any CD player up to or even slightly over $1,000. But then, that is a whole different discussion.