Have I Hit The Point Of Diminishing Returns?

I wouldn't so lightly dismiss Cardas as "rolled off", as if that's a bad thing. From what I see, many, if not most of the complaints here concern bright or forward systems. Many audiophiles fall into the same trap - they construct these "accurate" systems and then bitch about the brightness. It's a delicate balancing act. The room has a lot to do with it as well. If you're in a big room and sitting pretty far from the speakers, a more neutral "better highs" cable may be the thing to balance out the degree of softening the room may have. But if you're sitting 8 feet away from the speakers, those cables/components may tear your head off. This is not a simple thing and you have to let your ears be the judge. There's an old saying - the more you open the window, the more garbage flies in. That's why I'm saying that upgrading has to be done carefully and preferably with the help of someone who knows the gear and whose ears you trust.

Interesting views. My power amp is 225 wpc dual mono, so I THINK it's powerful enough, but I could be wrong. Love how the B&Ws and Cardas sound in this system, although I agree that they may not work in some other systems. Essentially, there seem to be two opposing points of view: (a) marginally "different" sound can be had for a significant price, but it may not be "better" sound or worth the money; and (b) it is possible to achieve 100% improved sound for a reasonable cost, but is component/system synergy dependent. Confusing, no doubt. BTW, my new listening room is a sucky 12x12x8, but I have treated it with GIK Acoustics products which have helped tremendously.

Looking at your system description leads me to ask if you are connecting the Velodyne sub at speaker-level or at line-level. If you are connecting it at line-level you could undoubtedly realize a significant improvement, at minimal cost, by connecting at speaker level.

I say that because, as I mentioned in another recent thread in which you also participated, the output impedance of your BAT preamp rises to very high levels at deep bass frequencies. The input impedance of the line-level inputs of your Velodyne sub doesn't appear to be specified, but typically powered subs have relatively low impedances on those inputs, which would result in significant deep bass rolloff when driven by your preamp. Reproduction of higher frequencies by the main speakers could be adversely affected as well, if the sub is loading the outputs of the preamp.

Regards,
-- Al

Al - I sold the Velodyne and am running the B&Ws full range. Sounds much better ... I will revise my system description.

I think you need to isolate what you are trying to achieve. It's a small room, so you can only do so much. For example, one could be looking for more realism in the human voice, more bass impact, better sound at lower volume, etc. You can't just walk into this without a goal. In my experience, the biggest part of the puzzle is finding a pair of speakers that work in your room. When you find it, it's an amazing upgrade. The bad part is - IMO, this is nothing but trial and error and there's no way to predict the speaker that's going to work best. It's like the errors in the room combine with the errors in the speaker to somehow work out. My current speakers were fairly expensive (for me) and I wouldn't buy them without a home audition. Fortunately, it worked out great. But if you like those B&Ws, you could probably buy a used Harbeth SHL5 and sell them at minimal if any loss. I think that might be an alternative.