I just noticed you asked about the difference between the C220 and the C500 earlier in the month. It is not subtle, and it is worth every penny. Given your wonderful speakers, I think you would get a much more realistic and deeper soundstage and a dramatic increase in realism. I debated between upgrading my source components or the preamp and I'm very happy I went with the C500. The phono stage is significantly better as well which was a big part of my decision since the C220 is limited to MM cartridges.
I really liked my C220, but I had no idea that it was a bottleneck for so much of the music.
