Originally Posted By: cohesion
With all respect to JohnK I have to go against the prevailing wisdom here and say that a new amp would likely make the biggest improvement in your listening experience. I'll explain why but it's a bit of a long story...

I also have respectfully disagree; a good amp will make a big difference, even disregarding the raw power benefits. I have a fairly decent receiver (Yamaha RXV567) and a pair of cheap-ish monoblocks (Emotiva UPA-1).
The difference in SQ is huge. To my ears anyway.

M80 v3, 2 x Emotiva UPA-1 Monoblocks, XPA-5, UMC-1 PrePro
Pro-Ject RPM Genie, Carver C2 Phono Preamp