Choosing the right equipment

We were hoping we could put something together for like a thousand or less. Just so he could listen to his favorite albums again in the mean time while we save to help him get his dream system. I know that's a tall order but we are trying our best!

Sorry, man with 72 Viking, traipse and high end circus performer wife not into budget gear but make good point. Take your $1k budget, divide between turntable and integrated amp with built-in phono stage, with maybe a little left over for speaker cables. I would stick to new. Most $500 turntables will be very similar in performance, so don't sweat it. Focus on finding a good integrated amp with phono stage. This will be fine to fill in, and leave room for things like speaker cables for him to add later as he is able.

These will get you done...

https://www.musicdirect.com/music-hall-mmf-13-turntable

https://www.psaudio.com/products/sprout100-integrated-amplifier/

What are the odds of getting something to get by really cheap? l;ike 400 dollars. I know he has all the speaker cables, power cables, tubes and stuff like that.

Anything is possible, and something is better than nothing… maybe… or better wait until you can spend more. Really carefully chosen $1k will get some sound out of them… pleasing? I need help on that. But splitting $600 for integrated electronics and $400 (Rega?) for table would sound OK. Just for reference if I was looking for matching components I would think of a budget of about $20,000 for electronics… you could do so,etching fairly complimentary for $10K. The good news is they are pretty efficient speakers (91db) so they don’t need lots of power.

Someone will have to chime in with specific recommendations in these price ranges. The closest thing I have experience with is a $2K integrated amp (no phono stage).

If he have tube and good audiophile it might better to involve pop in wishes instead buy something for surprise. He may have cash stash for wild side action nobody know about. Want to make sure he wishes met and not get something he like what is this stuff, etc? That make sense?