Trying to Help My Nephew With His First Venture Into High End Audio


Would appreciate some advice on how to proceed.

I am "gifting" my Nephew several components and a set of speakers, from my 2nd system. Most of this stuff is from 1995, but works well and still sounds very good. He listens to mostly Rock music on Vinyl.

Here is the base system we are starting with (digital only, no Vinyl):
Totem Model 1 Speakers (4Ohm and 98db)Meitner MTR-101 (MUSE-TEX) Mono Amps (100W into 8 Ohms, 200W into 4 Ohms)
Rotel Solid State Preamp, RC-970BX (No phono stage)
Marantz CD Player (CD-63SE)Opening price point interconnects and a set speaker cables
I would like to keep him focused on "separate components" versus an integrated option. I believe this will help him to learn about how each part of the system contributes to the sound, and if he chooses to change something, he can "perhaps" upgrade 1 component without changing the entire system.

Also, he is a bit hesitant about tubes. However, I would like to introduce tubes somewhere into the system (preamp or outboard phono perhaps) so he can learn about the benefits and shortcomings of tubes in Vinyl playback.
As you can see from the system I am gifting him, he will still need to buy:
A turntable/arm/cartridge.Either a tube preamp with phono section (if replacing the Rotel) or an outboard tube phono stage (if keeping the Rotel).
Also a SUT depending on what direction you suggest.

He has $5,000 to spend.

128x128labpro
Pioneer PLX1000 for $700 + Hana SL mc cartridge - $750 - saves a lot of money for the phono/preamp! When I wanted to add a new production TT to my collection at a reasonable price I chose the Pioneer. I think it sounds just as good as the Technics, for considerably less money! Read Herb Reichert's review in Stereophile! 
used SOTA Sapphire ( awesome isolation for rock ), Origin Live tonearm Soundsmith Cart, Hagerman Trumpet tube phono, $1 k for decent cables…

look out Mama !
Pioneer PLX series can compete ONLY with OLD Technics 1200 discontinued before Pioneer made their PLX1000.

But it can’t compete with Technics new “GR” series which is only one step behind the “G”, both have coreless DD motor (best DD motor available today). They are more expensive for a reason (much better technology and more expensive materials). 
I’m a little confused … you are gifting him some quite basic building blocks sans vinyl … say he has $5k to spend … but I’d assume that is NOT to be all directed to the vinyl rig (which creates a dramatically unbalanced system), but rather BOTH acquire first vinyl rig to go with this donated system AND his ‘fund’ to upgrade/experiment changing out components over time.

Correct or incorrect? Answer yields drastically different answers/responses.
I took a slightly different approach with my son. A bit more simple and easy to use, with an inexpensive cartridge to learn and break

Celestion A-1 speakers (88 db)
Pioneer SX-1080 receiver
Technics SL-1800 II
Ortofon 2M red cartridge
Bluetooth streaming device to plug into the back of the receiver for digital music from his phone