$2000 turntable system

hifiron:
I would recommend a VPI Scout or Vinyl Nirvana (http://vinylnirvana.com/)

leotis already bought his system, a GEM Polytable with Jelco 750D tonearm and Hana EL feeding a Vincent PHO-8 tube-driven phono stage.

leotis wrote:

... Just as I feared... I prefer the sound of vinyl.
So my fairly extensive digital library is gonna be playing second fiddle.
And I'm gonna have to have to pile real $$$ into the vinyl....

After 20 straight years of listening only to digital sources, I bought a turntable on March 2, 2007. I had a small clutch of LPs and money was tight, but soon my stepson (who gently persisted in convincing me to return to vinyl) and I started hitting the used record stores and thrift shops. We would return with armloads of gently used LPs for very little money. I was so taken with the sound --and especially the emotional uplift that came from listening to records--that I did not listen to even one CD until October, over seven months later. 

I have a mix of audiophile reissues, current issues, and used records that generally cost me pennies on the dollar. I got many of my very favorite records for 99 cents from thrift shops and the bargain bins of used record stores. Many of them sound phenomenal in fact. I got the complete studio discographies of The Cars, the Police, and Steely Dan for an average $4.99 per album. I have wonderful orchestral works conducted by Stokowsky, Bernstein, Reiner, and others for a buck or two. So, fear not. It's a good thing.

Whereas in the '80s people rebought their old albums as CDs, I found myself replacing CDs with LPs, sometimes with high quality reissues, but often with low cost used LPs.

One of the cool things about finding albums from the '50s through much of the '80s is that most of them have an all-analog signal chain. The hunt for vintage records can be fun and rewarding. I had just come out of heart surgery in late 2006, and the search for inexpensive used LPs got me out of the house and was good for me physically as well as emotionally.

Down the rabbit hole...
Didn't want to get carried away on first foray into vinyl, given uncertainty about rate of use. Turns out I prefer analog to digital source, so have dropped a few hunderd on LPs. (Don't want to add it up.) But seems I need a better phono stage now. Looking at Sutherland 20/20. And need speed controller. Looking at Phoenix Eagle with Roadrunner tachometer.
Those 2 improvements will cost more than original outlay. Fortunately with advice I got here I don't foresee a need to replace the Polytable or Hana cartridge anytime soon. So thanks again for the excellent advice.
Leo

leotis

... need speed controller. Looking at Phoenix Eagle with Roadrunner tachometer ...

You might want to reconsider the Phoenix. The word is that the company is going out of business at the end of the year.

Bummer.
What other product does on the fly automatic speed adjustment?
Best I can tell just dropping the needle slows the rotation by 0.1 RPM.
Seems like continuous automatic adjustment would be a plus.
Thanks for tip. Might just get one anyway.