ssh/sftp speed on local network

I just set up a media server on an old laptop and have been using sftp to transfer the files I create from my main computer to the new server. My SFTP speeds max out at 1.9mb a second on my local network ( usually more like 1.7) this seems really slow to me. I realize SSH carries some overhead with encryption, I've tested this with no other network demands, same result, I'm not ruing top of the line new hardware but I'm not using the worst either.

I'm my searching I've looked into encryption ciphers, HDD speed, suggestions of using FTP or samba instead, an SSH patch called hp-ssh, tpc/ip tuning, none of which offered any help. It just seems I should be able to get at least 4 MBS and that would be fine.

Hp-ssh seems very interesting but a bit above my skill level requiring recompiling ssh.

TCP/IP tuning on mode Linux keels (2.6+) is automatically implemented

FTP and samba seem like giving in to a less secure protocol rather than making the proper better one work correctly.

So where have I gone wrong and how can I diag and fix it.