The best way to start adding A=analog to my system

Saul,

The Clearaudios offer a substantial discount for cartridges with a new purchase, so it is likely a good idea to take advantage of that, say with either the Concept MC or one of the Hana's, or other.  Your dealer will likely give you the same discount option with another cartridge. But with an inferior cartridge, you'll never hear what you're paying up to attain.

 If you must make compromises for now on the excellent Clearaudio Performance setup, the Satisfy Carbon tonearm is a reasonable substitute for the Tracer and can be easily swapped out later.

Origin Live recommend a budget of

30% on turntable

30% on tonearm

30% on phone preamp

10% on cartridge

I agree with that assessment. However I would alter this for the first setup. I’d start with a turntable and arm combo and and an appropriate priced cartridge and phono preamp. Maybe 10 % cartridge and 15% phono preamp.. Then, upgrade the phono preamp ASAP when the budget allows.

@saulh , you have a very nice system, Cheaping out on a turntable would be a big mistake. Good systems will make a bad turntable sound worse. A turntable/tonearm combination that would fit in with your system is going to cost a minimum of $9,000 and that is not including the cartridge which will be another $4000 plus and we have not gotten to the phono stage yet. 

If you are not ready to spend this kind of money yet I would hold on and continue saving. Buying something you are going to be unhappy with is a waste of money. Do it right and do it once. I think the perfect table for you would be a Basis 2200 Signature with a Vector 4 arm. That is around $15,000. You could probably get it down to $13,000 with the right dealer. Cartridges are disposable items so if you have to save money get a Lyra Delos to start and down the line get an Etna. 

I'm assuming you do not yet have a record collection. You have to seed a collection at the start. Put $1500 aside to buy 50 or so records then buy an average of a record a week. If you just buy a few records at the beginning the tendency is to listen to them over and over. You get bored with them and they get worn with frequent playing. Down the line you buy a few more record which you wind up playing the same way. You  build a collection of worn records you are bored with. If you buy 50 to start and continue adding on you will always have new music to enjoy and will build a collection of pristine records. 

@holmz I am looking at new turntables, because there are a lot of delicate moving parts. I am definitely considering used phono stages though.

@pindac great point. I am inheriting about 200-250 33s of mostly jazz and R&B, which is likely most of what I will listen to, though I have added (yes, even before the tt! some additional rock albums).