How does one go about auditioning a new turntable?

your TT is fine for your system I would start to look at upgrading your old Marantz integrated.

You're miles ahead of anything I had when I was 22. If you want to make the jump to a reliable tube integrated, you might consider one of the Primaluna Prolog series. As for TTs, I'd like to suggest that you pick up the current, June-July, issue of absolute sound. The entire issue is devoted to analog playback. While it can't tell you what setup you will like best, it has a lot of great information on different TT design philosophies, cartridges, etc. EVen though I've been doing LPs in one form or another since the early '70s, I am learning a lot of cool stuff from the issue.

Get a Galibier Sarac and matched arm from Thom Mackris and forget about the rest. I would however, start with a new amp.

Dear Britishbane: Your analog source is not bad at all. How good are your speakers?

Maybe you need to change it along the Marantz before you make any analog rig change.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Britishbane, What do I look/listen for while auditioning… Wow. That’s a good question. Do you listen to live acoustic music? If so, that would give you a great reference, because don’t we all want our music at home to sound like it is the real thing? I would go for the gestalt, the whole experience of if the music involves and moves you, not audiophile little details of this or that. You need experience, lots and lots of listening to different systems to determine what you like and what you don’t favor about reproduced sound. It is a matter of no one else's but your interpretation, and whether you prefer it. I can’t tell you what that might be (and neither can anyone else). That’s the good and difficult part of all this and it will change with experience.

As many have said before me, at this point you have a pretty solid source. Rarely would I suggest it yet, in this case it sounds like upgrading the preamp/amp to get the most out of your source might be the best bang for the buck.

Remember system synergy is very important and highly overlooked.

Inevitably, the speaker/power amp synergy is a very particular thing. The marriage, if you will, must be harmonious and I wouldn't purchase speakers and/or power amps without a great deal of thought for the future and auditioning them together to make sure you get the magic.

That said, your system is only as good as the weakest link and although I would normally advise toward a greater (analogue) source because, it is just that, the beginning of the chain and could be vastly superior to the rest of your system and yet enable you to have a reference and grow with all other down stream components for years and through many iterations.

Quite frankly I think you're correct and smarter than your years about the speaker/room scenario at this time.

With a reasonable investment in a used preamp, say a Modwright SWL 9.0 Se or Audible illusions Modulus 3A, you would resolve huge amounts of detail, dynamics and finesse and still have some cash to bank toward a power amp for your B&W’s or for a different pairing of speaker/ power amp to take you to the next level, which ever you prefer. I would guess the question here is how much do you like the speakers you have? But again, without a higher resolution preamp and a proper match in power amps, how would you know?

Anyway, both the source you have and a finer preamp will help you figure out were to go next. This pursuit for high fidelity is not easy, as you may have gathered, but I for one can assure you it will be very satisfying with a little hard work.

Happy Listening!