Hey Renaissanceman9, when I was a musician, I also realised that I wasn't taking much time to just sit down and listen. I did however, come from an audiophile household and I'm pretty familiar with most of the gear that's been discussed on the thread so far. It sounds like our musical tastes seem to line up a bit as well, so I think I might be able to help a bit.
For a digital source, I highly recommend one of the Denon mult-format DVD players (Denon 2200, 3910, 3930, 5910). I would try to aim for the 3910. You can find them all the time hear and on eBay. Even though the 3910 was originally a ~1500 player, blu-ray has dropped it's value to where you should be able to get one for $200 or less. The 3910 (and other multi-format players) will let you play CD, DVD-A, SACD, DCD, and even mp3 cds. It should keep up at least through the $5K upgrade cycle, and can be upgraded modified to compete with players that cost >$6K alone.
As far as turntables go, I can only recommend buying locally. Start with either a vintage table or one of the lower line current tables. Since your budget isn't huge, I'd wait until the next upgrade cycle to get into the nicer tables. Perhaps someone in the Nashville area with have an old deck they can sell you. Heck, if you were in the greater DFW area in Texas, I'd just let you borrow my old Technics table for a while.
For speakers and the rest, since you're back to the drawing board, keep listening to other people's setups. Definitely continue to get exposed to different speaker technologies. Heck, even at one of the local Best Buys in the Dallas area, you can go listen to Martin Logan Summits and McIntosh amps. I'm not really big on the McIntosh gear, but it's a good way to check out some good speakers to see if something else in that style of speaker might suit you. Make note of products you've heard and enjoyed more than others (don't forget to indicate things you definitely didn't enjoy). List more of those here, and you'll get plenty of other suggestion for similar products that might fit your budget.
Good luck with your shipping claim. I certainly know it's a beating.
For a digital source, I highly recommend one of the Denon mult-format DVD players (Denon 2200, 3910, 3930, 5910). I would try to aim for the 3910. You can find them all the time hear and on eBay. Even though the 3910 was originally a ~1500 player, blu-ray has dropped it's value to where you should be able to get one for $200 or less. The 3910 (and other multi-format players) will let you play CD, DVD-A, SACD, DCD, and even mp3 cds. It should keep up at least through the $5K upgrade cycle, and can be upgraded modified to compete with players that cost >$6K alone.
As far as turntables go, I can only recommend buying locally. Start with either a vintage table or one of the lower line current tables. Since your budget isn't huge, I'd wait until the next upgrade cycle to get into the nicer tables. Perhaps someone in the Nashville area with have an old deck they can sell you. Heck, if you were in the greater DFW area in Texas, I'd just let you borrow my old Technics table for a while.
For speakers and the rest, since you're back to the drawing board, keep listening to other people's setups. Definitely continue to get exposed to different speaker technologies. Heck, even at one of the local Best Buys in the Dallas area, you can go listen to Martin Logan Summits and McIntosh amps. I'm not really big on the McIntosh gear, but it's a good way to check out some good speakers to see if something else in that style of speaker might suit you. Make note of products you've heard and enjoyed more than others (don't forget to indicate things you definitely didn't enjoy). List more of those here, and you'll get plenty of other suggestion for similar products that might fit your budget.
Good luck with your shipping claim. I certainly know it's a beating.