Looking for a good system for my apartment. Any advise?

The most important factor is your room/speaker interface. Get a pair of speakers that drive your room and fit in the space you have. Borrow or beg anything that might work. Try everything. Don't overlook used or vintage or unusual, like small Maggies. Once you find speakers, get an amp big enough to drive them (if Maggies, you'll need some power, more efficient speakers will give you more options). Then spend whatever's left on front-end gear. The best cheap turntable available is the $699 Pioneer and the $1,000 MoFi is also a good buy.  The right speakers will make the rest of the gear sound good. A Linn dealer will tell you the opposite, that the front end is more important, but he's trying to sell a turntable ranging from $4k-17k. At your budget level, it works quite the other way.