If I can offer some advice...

Don't make small changes you can live with. Make big drastic changes which you could never live with in a million years... to find out what is going on and find out what affects the sound. Then do some thinking and talking and posting to figure out the best compromise.

M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39
M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1
LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8