Here is my brand new (1 month old) system. I enjoy it immensely and love the music. I never enjoyed jazz untill I got this system and now I'm taking everything the library owns! I'm posting this because {A} I know it can be better (and hopefully inexpensively), especially in regards to detail and {B} I'm really enjoying system building as a hobby as well. So far part B hasn't interfered with my musical enjoyment (keeping my fingers crossed), so I would like to take some tweak or part-swap suggestions. I'm most interested in any advice that can make my system better for low volume/nearfield (6 foot equilataral triangle) listening. My first intended tweak is to buy two Blue Circle Noise Hound's since I live in an old apartment building.
Update: I just got in some new footers and tube dampers from Herbie's Audio Lab (http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net) and they made a significant difference! The tube dampers tightened up the bass quite a bit and brought more detail and smoothness to the fore. The footers were put under my cdp and also yielded impressive improvements over the Vibrapods.
As far as cheap tweaks go, I'd second speaker placement and vibration control. I've had very good luck with Vibrapods under my CDP. At $8 each it's hardly a risk.
