Many people tried, few believe they did get significant improvements but probably more found any gains were subtle at best if existed at all. I do believe in spending money on getting the best possible speakers first before power amp and then prepro. If you have a decent system such as what you have now, the biggest gain in sound quality comes from the media source, be it CD, SACD, FLac, or vinyl, stick with high quality recordings and you may be able to hear the improvements you are looking for. If you are determined to try separate, for a budget of $2500, look to Integra/Onkyo, or wait for the Marantz AV7007/AV8007.