I hope all this hasn’t changed your mind about delving into vinyl. Personally, I have a $2800 Music Hall 9.3, a $700 phono preamp with MC loading options and about 200 Albums. My investment into enjoying LPs is fairly reasonable for what I am getting out of it. And that is pure enjoyment of the format! I love the sound and as an engineer I very much enjoy the whole process of playing albums. Everything from the turntable setup to cart selection. The audible sound difference you can get with different cart loading or small VTA adjustments. And overall I just feel more connected to the music. If I’m home, and I just want something playing in the background, I tend to stream music using Qobuz or Tidal. And yes, they sound good, but it’s a very low effort to just let them run in the background. When I want to listen to music, I play vinyl. I just enjoy it more. I compare it to people who drive there, Toyota Sequoia to work every day, but on the weekends, they drag their 66 Mustang out of the garage. That 66 Mustang doesn’t get better fuel mileage, it doesn’t stop better, it’s not as comfortable or as safe, and it certainly takes more effort to drive. But in all that, it’s a hell of a lot more fun than the Toyota sequoia! That’s vinyl for me..
I agree with a lot of recommendations above. The REGA P1, the Fluance RT85, the Music Hall Classic or the 3.3 is an excellent choice along with the Mani as recommended would get you going. I think a great reasonable cartridge is an Ortofon Blue. If you happen to have a red, you can update just the stylus to a blue or beyond and make it a significantly better cartridge. As far as vinyl? I pick and choose a few new albums and yes, they can be pricey. But my wife watches craigslist and Facebook and it’s not unusual to see people dumping large collections for very short money. I will usually buy a bunch of these records at 3 to 5 dollars apiece take them home and give them a good cleaning. I must be really lucky because it’s actually unusual for me to find a piece of vinyl that is unplayable. The majority the stuff I get is still like new, after cleaning that is. And for cleaning? Or use a simple $79 spin clean. It’s pretty manual but it works really good. I’ll get a bunch a Albums and I’ll just clean five or 10 of them a night until they are done. My suggestion is to use just slightly warm water. And as someone else said, you have to clean the new stuff too. I’ve had absolutely completely unplayable vinyl that was brand new. After cleaning, it was silent and played perfectly.
I hope you enjoy your new venture into a a vintage audio format as I do!