Looking for a good system for my apartment. Any advise?

I've owned 3 pairs of those Quads for a dozen years, and only one panel has failed. Also a HV transformer. They sound great in the stereo room and unbelievable as HT center channel. 

Magnepans sound very fine too - but different. And they're a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot more robust. Magnepans do not have a HV supply, and so arcing is NOT a possibility. But it's a good idea to keep them out of the sun or the cement which holds the mylar to the frame will deteriorate.

How loud do you listen to music? I listen to classical mostly, but it is LOUD (a Shostakovich symphony has mega decibels at the climaxes).

If you are limited to how loud you can listen, because of being in an apartment, or you just don't like lifelike volumes of sound, I would recommend a pair of dipole planar speakers. Magnepans, or similar. They can be made, for not very much money, if you are handy that way. Very lifelike presentation, quick, low distortion. If you occasionally want mega bass, add a subwoofer or two, start with inexpensive models.

After you have speakers that work for you, get the least expensive turntable and amp. My personal faves for absolute best bang for buck, is an original NAD 3020 Series 20 (in excellent shape - meaning someone has gone over the solder joints and recapped and fixed any problems with the controls being problematic) and a Technics SL-D2. The NAD can drive most speakers, even planars and Linn Isobariks, and the Technics is rock solid and seems to last forever.

My two cents. Good luck! So much good vintage and new affordable gear out there

Quad makes an affordable tube integrated amp.

@twoleftears. One deficiency of looking for speakers first is that if the amp you have currently doesn't have the control over the speakers you are testing to demonstrate what the speakers under test are capable of.  Last year I was looking to upgrade my system so I started by looking at speakers.  One of the hifi shop owners suggested that I bring my amp and speakers in so I could get broader comparison.  Making a long story short, When I heard my speakers through a resolving and powerful amp that was able to get the bass I'd been missing from my own speakers I ended up buying an amp instead.  It was like I had never heard my speakers!!!  The surprise to me is both amps rated for 100Watts RMS per channel.  Old amp Rotel RA-1570 - new amp Simaudio 340dpx - speakers B&W CM5 S2.
So the caveat I have with starting with upgrading speakers first is make sure you have good enough gear to drive them when you are testing them so that you can tell that you are listening to the speakers and not deficiencies in the amp.

After reading everyone's posts (thank you!) and doing a bit of research, I think I've narrowed my options down to the following:

1. Integrated amp:  schiit ragnarok (comes w/built in DAC) or rogue sphinx and both come w/ internal phonostage  (I know some of you would suggest otherwise and instead go w/external DAC and phonostage but for my budget .. I'm OK w/it
2. CD transport:  Cambridge Audio CXC
3. Speakers: Wharfedale Linton
   
4. Turn table:  Rega Planar 2
   

My question is, as for the cables, I'll go w/blue jeans but not sure how many or what type..? What other cables will I need?