speakers/turntable for Marantz 2325

Carbonti and Johnnyb53 have it right on turntable and cartridge and the OPPO 980H is a steal from Amazon at $169.95 with free shipping. The only other recommendation I want to insert is Reference 3a Da Capo speakers. Or Zu Tones.
This system is going to be screamingly good for relatively small money. If you have any bucks left over the Technics upgrade path will justly absorb them.

I concur to perhps take the least painful, and expensive path, yet will provide solid sound, and enjoyment. The Technics 12XX series has all the bells, and whistles built in, strobe, pitch, light, etc.
KAB would be the source, and there's a plethora of beneficial mods-upgrades to this Table. With care, the table will last literal decades without a hiccup.

No, this is not actually a cheap route, as a fully modded KAB Technics will run you close to $1000. One does not have to opt for every mod, and the one most important Mod I would opt for, would be the Cardas Tonearm Rewire by Kevin at KAB. Items like Arm Damper, Strobe Disabler, seperate Power Supply, different, better Headshells (such as the Sumiko HS-12) can more easily be added over time by the end user.

A very good Cartridge for the money, which will be compatible with the built-in Marantz Phono Pre, would be the Audio Technica AT150MLX, about $260 from LP Gear. This Cartridge could also take advantage of a better, external MM Phono Pre in the future if one desired, or felt a need to attain better sound. At least with many MM Cartridges, they are end user friendly-re-tippable, with Stylus Assemblies that are easily replaced.

As for speakers, keep in mind that many smallish speakers will not fully showcase the powerful brunt that the Marantz 2325 can provide. Being the nostalgic that I am, and if it was me, I'd probably try to pair the Marantz with a mint pair of JBL L-100 Speakers.
Yes, they're a bookshelf, but a large one, (12" 3-Way) and could of course be placed on Stands of one desired.

Of course there were countless other vintage JBL Speakers that might fit your criteria, and sound likes.
(L-26/L-36/L-56/4311/4312/4425/etc)

Generally, finding a really clean pair of these JBLs I mention, will provide you a speaker that will not lose value, should you decide to later sell them.

You could easily go the route of a Base Stock Technics 1210 from somewhere like musicians friend, and still have a very enjoyable piece of equipment. Also save mucho money, versus going to a VPI Scout, which will run you list of $1800.

I hope this, and some other ideas from other forumites will help you select-decide the right path for yourself. mark

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the very good -- and grounded -- advice. I ended up re-reading several of the posts (which I understand better now than I did the first read through).

This thread has definately changed my approach as to what I'm looking for. Since I'm going to be bidding on a couple of things 'round here, I don't want to say what I'm going to do yet. I'll post here in the near future and tell you what I got and why.

I will say that my basic plan is to get a good starter system and try to get things that allow me to "upgrade" if necessary without breaking the bank out of the gate. I am going to look for a cheaper turntable and more expensive speakers.

Thanks again!

I had a 2270 with Polk Model SRA in mint condition with a Denon DP1000, SME II.