I'm New To Vinyl - Which Turntable Should I Buy?

Yes,
The tentative $2K budget I established is for 'used' gear and does not include phono stage or cleaning items. The budget is certainly not cast in stone and can be adjusted either way.

I realize a significant investment will be needed for albums should I pursue this end of the hobby seriously. If the table/arm/cart are upgradeable, or not, is not that important to me at this beginning stage, since I will likely sell the gear to upgrade if I continue in this direction.

Unfortunately, I'm not in an area that has high end analog shops, or know of anyone I could borrow a 'set-up' to taste this end of the hobby. But, please, all your comments are excellent and I would like to hear more. Thanks!

There are some really good and relatively inexpensive choices out there. My preference is for the VPI Scout/Scoutmaster but regardless of which table you choose the KEY issue is proper isolation. Any competent table will sound fantastic if you are able to remove it from footfalls and resonances introduced by your speakers. Really good tables get better still. I would hesitate before spending a lot of money on a rig if you are unable to mount it to the wall using a Target or similar stand or can utilize some other means of isolating the table. IMHO table sitting on suspended floors (particularly in older homes) cannot be made to sound their best using many of the isolation products out there (Black Diamond Racing, Ginko, etc)--they are merely bandaids that do not adequately address the vibrations your table is subjected to. Basement systems are great in this regard because the table sits on concrete rather than suspended flooring. If you can't isolate then I would lower your expectations about what vinyl can do or simply stick with your excellent digital setup.

Get a VPI Scout. That will include tonearm and have money left over for cart.

I am somewhat unfamiliar with the analog terminology; but I assume that "cart" means cartridge?

Regarding stands and isolation... Is a wall stand the preferred method, or are floor stands better? Thanks.

Whoever above is saying used Scout, I agree. You're unlikely to find one with a jmw10, they ususally come with a jmw9. But they're a really good table, highly upgradeable. Since you need to get a phono stage anyway, get one with mc capability, [approx. 60db gain] and a Denon 103r. You'll be under 2000 with this, depending on what phonostage you buy.

Don't forget record cleaning, and I will say this about the manual record cleaning machines: Cleaning records is, to me, excruciatingly boring and time consuming. If you have a lot of records to clean, the minimum machine I would get is the vpi 16.5 [used 300-400 and they go fast], only because they are slightly easier to use than a manul. If you're just starting out collecting, stay up on it! I have cleaned about 1000 of my lp's. I still have about 2000 to go. I am dreading it.