Turntable Quandry

Start with a Hana MC, maybe the Hana SL MkII for $850. You simply wont do better for under $1000. Then, if you decide to upgrade your turntable, you'll have the cart decision already made. Changing o e component at a time makes it easy to assess improvements .. or degrades. And, Hanas work very well in Technics medium mass tonearms.

Sounds like a plan for sure!

My two cents.  A used VPI Scout would be about $1,400 a Scoutmaster 50% more (and probably a 50% upgrade over the Scout).

"Scoutmaster [2004]The Scoutmaster took the best concepts of the Scout and stepped them up. More mass, more low-end! It doubled up the chassis and added a steel center between. At the time it had the same platter as the Aries 3 which was a thicker acrylic platter using an inverted bearing."

Check that the bearing is in good shape - it should have a very light film of lithium grease.

I have had my Scoutmaster now for almost 20 years. My daughter still uses the entry level VPI turntable that I bought in the 90's.

My deck was in my country house in VT in the early 2000's and there was a power outage that caused the interior of the house to be about 15 degs. F for a week.  My cartridge did not survive (along with my kitchen faucet).  I bought the Koetsu Black - which is still in use.   

The Scoutmaster/Koetsu Black combination brings me much Joy.  

The Phono stage is the Sutherland Duo.  Preamp is LA4.  PA either Pass Labs CA25 or my home brew fully balanced 65N7-300B.  Rockport Atria II speakers.

I 2nd the VPI choice for a Turntable. BTW. Any experience with the Hana SL MkII on a VPI Classic?

Agree that cart and/or turntable would yield sonic benefits.

However, if the OP is still running stock cabling, this is highly likely a sonic bottleneck relative to the level of their audio components.