new to me turntable and preamp

thanks for the input, it funny cause all the new sales sites rant and rave about the rega and pro-ject stuff, at least as far as the entry level stuff goes, but when i started reading on here seems most guys like the older stuff.
just found a denon dp-40f on ebay that looks well cared for, pretty sharp looking too. not real fond of the whole ebay auction thing though.

The receiver has no phono input, i got it several years ago before i had any idea about audio (i actually thought the yamaha would be the most likely to have a phono input). not long after i got the receiver a friend passed along the tt from a cheap dj set. got a needle and was all set to listen to some of my vinyl and realized little to no sound was coming through the receiver. Not knowing where else to go someone mentioned radio shack had what i needed. That was about 8 or 9 years ago.
Would it make more sense to get rid of the preamp first? I would think the radio shack piece has got to be the worst of my system. You think the chirping sounds are a worn belt on the tt?
Of course at some point i hope to replace the receiver too, but that will be at least a year away.

thanks

Sorry about the omission, the chirping is definitely coming from the table itself, not through the speakers. Its kinda between a chatter and a chirp, really sounds like a chipmunk is getting tired of doing the work inside. I think it may be more prone to happen when a heavier vinyl is on the mat, and always after at least 30 - 45 minutes or play. I've never given this tt much thought other than one replacement of the stylus last summer.
I did see a NAD 533 on the sale page, which I believe is similar to the Rega??? Seemed to have fairly good reviews when I looked it up. Might that be a good starting point.

thanks again

thanks a bunch to all the advice. think i'm gonna pick up this NAD, any suggestions on reasonably priced pre amps? that seems to be a whole new world in and of itself.

first i'd just like to say how nice it is for you all to offer all this advice to us beginners. some circles just seem to what to keep all the info for those in the know so they can look down on all the rest. thanks.

so...
once i get the new table, i just need a phono stage, and then from there i would just run that into the reciever? since the reciever has no phono input, i have been running my current table through the v-aux input jack. is there any difference in the jacks on the back?
also, you guys think my existing ortofon cart will be a better choice than the stock on the NAD?

Made a deal with the guy selling the NAD 533, so should be a good start, now I just need to find the right pre and I'll be all set. Picked up some nice records in Philly last time I was there and I'm saving these two sealed Japanese pressings for the special occasion.

And Zen, there must be something to those bellaris, those things go like hotcakes on saturday morning.

Oh, and I did adjust and tighten the screws on my cartridge saturday night, not sure if it should have made a difference, but I had no chirping noises even after 2-3 hours of playtime. go figure...

thanks for the suggestion johnny, but i got to hold off a bit on the reciever - think my wife might go crazy if i mentioned another new audio component right now, but i'll keep it in mind when i'm ready.

...reading up on the bellari, seems some have problems with the humming, but this is something that has been cleared up???
and has anyone else tried the parasound?

alright fellas, I should have everything up and running in about a week, so I'll let you know how everything turns out.

so the new tt came today, so of course i hooked it up even though i don't have a new phono stage yet, but i will say bud powell was sounding much better. i've been playing records for quite a while, but not sure i was really listening to them till now.
can't even imagine the sound of some of the other systems out there. i'm afraid i've been bitten by the bug...

Alright, so the upgrade is complete and I've got to say the whole package seems complete (for now...)
I first hooked the nad to my existing set up, what I noticed: some records seemed much clearer, but didn't seem to have as much output as before, and other records just sounded off. It was funny because those that seemed best on the old setup (electronica, dub-reggae) were the ones that sounded off, especially as the volume was turned up. But some of the jazz records were nice and crisp, but still didn't sound as good at moderate volumes. Guess that was the quality of the yamaha and radio shack making them selves obvious.
Well thanks to Pumkinman all that changed. He shipped me a Onkyo m-501 and a NAD 1600. So now my system is:

NAD 1600 preamp
NAD 533 turntable
Onkyo m-501 amp
Linn Keilidh loudspeakers in rosenut

So far everything I've played from my collection sounds worlds better, particularly anything that has quality production behind it. I was a little concerned about finding a combination that would be a benefit to all the music types I like, but the Clash to Johnny Cash, Art Blakey to Dolly Parton (that's my wife's) all's been great so far.

One question, what's the theory behind the loudness setting on the preamp. Seems its beneficial to some of the rock and punk, but totally blows out levels on the crisp and sparse type stuff.

And what's the next step - speaker cables, interconnects, record cleaning???