It may depend upon how much free time and curiosity you have, but perhaps starting with something trashy and moving up might be fascinating and educational, here's my story:
I started at "mid-fi" with a VPI Scoutmaster and Dyna 20x. Loved it but wasn't satisfied, esp. with vocals, choral sound and piano, which thinned a little too much towards the end of records and often mistracked. Went to the Dyna XX2 and those problems were dramatically reduced, but not completely.
I traded both TT and Cart in for an SACD/CD player capable of downloading. Love it. On a lark, I plugged in a friends dusty old Vintage Pioneer with unknown cart and was absolutely floored by the sound: same old analog "magic:" relaxed, laid-back delivery, great bass, spacious soundstage, using a typical Wilkinson/Ansermet recording. Of course, "problem" records were still problems (the Mercury Janis Prokofiev 3rd, last few minutes) but the sum-total uniquely mesmerizing Lp sound was still there. I wish I had started with vintage.
I started at "mid-fi" with a VPI Scoutmaster and Dyna 20x. Loved it but wasn't satisfied, esp. with vocals, choral sound and piano, which thinned a little too much towards the end of records and often mistracked. Went to the Dyna XX2 and those problems were dramatically reduced, but not completely.
I traded both TT and Cart in for an SACD/CD player capable of downloading. Love it. On a lark, I plugged in a friends dusty old Vintage Pioneer with unknown cart and was absolutely floored by the sound: same old analog "magic:" relaxed, laid-back delivery, great bass, spacious soundstage, using a typical Wilkinson/Ansermet recording. Of course, "problem" records were still problems (the Mercury Janis Prokofiev 3rd, last few minutes) but the sum-total uniquely mesmerizing Lp sound was still there. I wish I had started with vintage.