First Turntable - Direct drive or Belt drive?

First Turntable -  

Having no prior experience with a turntable, I need your help in understanding what are involved in setting up and playing a turntable. I’ve been contemplating an analogue front end that has a good synergy with my existing digital music playbacks and provides a music experience that excels what my current ARC CD-7 tube CD player could offer.

Here’re the components in my existing system:

Audio Research CD-7 Tube CD player (I much prefer a tube-based CD player than a non-tube based one)

Ayre K-1xe pre amp (without phono)

Pass Labs XA 30.5 power amp

Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 speakers (Sound Anchor stands)

Audience Au24e balanced interconnects

Audience Au24SE speaker cables

Kind of music listening to: symphony, chamber, strings, vocal, pop songs, jazz

FYI, I have no of collection of LPs.

First, where do I start collecting LPs? Buying new (expensive) or getting used? FYI, I’m in NYC area and I think there’re some LP stores around. Second, do I need a decent record cleaner to achieve a reasonable level of LP playback experience? Moreover, how do you store your LPs? Any suggestion for a good quality shelf/storage for LPs?

 Trying to understand the output from a turntable. I read somewhere on the forum that the output of a turntable is inherently balanced. What’re the typical output connectors off a turntable – balanced, RCA or other?  My pre amp has balanced input/output and power amp has balanced input. Should I get a phono stage that has a balanced input/output to take advantage of the pre and power amps?

If a turntable (i.e. Technics SL-1210GR) has a RCA output, how to connect it to a phono stage? Turntable RCA output > Phono RCA input > Phono Balanced output>Pre Amp balanced input?

 Any recommendations for a high quality, less maintenance First Turntable around $2K (new or used? Thinking about the Technics SL-1210GR? Is its playback more digital like than analogue?

Lastly, I need recommendation on a moderately priced, solid rack for a turntable. FYI, I currently do not have a rack and I put all components on the floor. A rack that will house a turntable, pre-amp and CD player would be ideal. Or, they could be 2 separate low-profile racks.

Thank you!