Upgrade question - speakers or integrated?

My source is a Rotel 1072 - which I'm going to hang onto. It gives way more bang for the buck than it should. The YBA doesn't have a phono input, though I may get an external phono stage.

And a Rogue Cronus is also in the wings. I used to have a pair of Rogue 120 magnum monos powering the Maggies. They were pretty awesome.

I've been enjoying my Rogue Audio Cronus -- Rotel RCD-1072 combination for many years, and this set up has driven my B&W DM 601 S3, Vandersteen 1C, and my current Revel F-12 speakers to a tremendous level of musical happiness !
The Rotel deck and Rogue amp get along extremely well (I'm using an AudioQuest King Cobra interconnect between them) and this combo may take your Focal's to a whole new level ! Just my two cents ...... Happy Listening.

I would say, save your money and let it grow. I agree if nothing is wrong and you really don't know what you want, integrated or speakers or new Ferragamos etc, just wait until that "Ah Ha" moment when your thoughts all congeal in your head and you figure it out after your months of research. I went through the same machinations between components etc until I decided speakers was the way for me. And then I ended up spending 3x my original budget...eeek!

If you just want to warm things up, maybe you could try just sticking a tube buffer into the system and see if that does it for you. Yaqins get pretty good reviews and are under $200.

Still, your question is one that I've found myself pondering a few times and it brings to mind a review that I read about the Silverline Minuets. According to the review, or write up or whatever it was, they were demoing the Minuets by driving them with a POS integrated and a CD player bought at a garage sale. According to the publication the sound coming from the Minuets was impressive. If that article actually means anything, perhaps the answer to your question would be to upgrade the speakers.

Given your choice of music, I'd suggest that you look into something by System Audio.

Simao:

I listen to mostly jazz, folk, and other nuanced music.

and

05-18-13: Simao
My source is a Rotel 1072 - which I'm going to hang onto. It gives way more bang for the buck than it should. The YBA doesn't have a phono input, though I may get an external phono stage.

And a Rogue Cronus is also in the wings. I used to have a pair of Rogue 120 magnum monos powering the Maggies. They were pretty awesome.

If you're happy with your digital source, great. Digital and analog don't have to be mutually exclusive; I listen to both, but primarily to analog now.

Given the kinds of music you listen to at home--jazz, folk, and other nuanced music--much of this is acoustic music then. I listen to a lot of acoustic music--classical, jazz, folk, vocalists backed by live bands (e.g., Sinatra, Nat Cole, Diana Krall, Rod Stewart, etc.) In my experience, if you listen to nuanced acoustic music and you feel like something could be better, there's a good chance that what you're seeking is higher resolution to help flesh out the subtle sonic cues that make acoustic music sound real.

That's what I noticed when I added a turntable to my rig. I didn't just hear the music, I heard how the musicians were making the music, and that in turn made me feel more involved with the listening experience. There are some kinds of music that come across better in analog form. Examples include vocals and bowed strings. For example, when I put on a CD of the Bach solo cello suites, my wife found it irritating, but when I put on the LPs of it, it became her favorite recordings in the house. Having listened extensively to digital and analog playback of Sinatra, I get more of the gestalt in analog; ditto for The Beatles, solo cello, acoustic jazz, etc.

The Rogue Cronus or Cronus Magnum would seem to be good candidates. They also have a built-in MM phono stage that's probably pretty good. On my recommendation an audio buddy got a Cronus Magnum to drive his Maggies and he was also really happy with that setup. The Absolute Sound's rave review of the Cronus Magnum also paired it with Maggies.