Sell what you have and buy an integrated amp. Separates will never match the performance of an integrated, not for the same money anyway, because separates add a power cord and interconnect into the equation. It simply cannot be done. Not without spending a whole lot more money anyway.
Yes you want a turntable, and separate phono stage. Preferably one with an arm with leads wired in as that also eliminates the need for another good interconnect. Then you need 2 speakers.
At this point you need to make a decision. Do you want the very best bass possible? Because it costs about $3k. Which is a lot of your budget. But yields SOTA bass. Or you could get really good bass from something like Tekton Double Impacts planning to maybe add a Swarm later.
Now if you're serious, which I doubt but for the sake of argument pretending you are, then the difference between any old hifi and truly captivating regardless of budget isn't the speakers or the amp or the phono, its the tweaks. So whatever you do budget a couple grand right off the top for Perfect Path Solutions Total Contact and Omega Mats, Synergistic Research HFT, ECT and PHT, and Orange Fuse, Cable Elevators, and BDR Cones. Budget about $2k for those, another $2k for wire (speaker cables, interconnect, power cords) and divide the remaining $4k between speakers, amp and table.
There you go. You can't spend $5k on speakers. Sorry. Not for your $8k budget. Not that it matters, this being pure fantasy and all. But even pretending you can still at least pretend you're serious and want to do it right.
Yes you want a turntable, and separate phono stage. Preferably one with an arm with leads wired in as that also eliminates the need for another good interconnect. Then you need 2 speakers.
At this point you need to make a decision. Do you want the very best bass possible? Because it costs about $3k. Which is a lot of your budget. But yields SOTA bass. Or you could get really good bass from something like Tekton Double Impacts planning to maybe add a Swarm later.
Now if you're serious, which I doubt but for the sake of argument pretending you are, then the difference between any old hifi and truly captivating regardless of budget isn't the speakers or the amp or the phono, its the tweaks. So whatever you do budget a couple grand right off the top for Perfect Path Solutions Total Contact and Omega Mats, Synergistic Research HFT, ECT and PHT, and Orange Fuse, Cable Elevators, and BDR Cones. Budget about $2k for those, another $2k for wire (speaker cables, interconnect, power cords) and divide the remaining $4k between speakers, amp and table.
There you go. You can't spend $5k on speakers. Sorry. Not for your $8k budget. Not that it matters, this being pure fantasy and all. But even pretending you can still at least pretend you're serious and want to do it right.