Suggested entry path into vinyl...

Truisms might be better called prejudices. ;)

To answer your digital vs. vinyl question, I don't feel it's helpful to think of vinyl as a sonic upgrade over CDs. I think that's pushed too much here and in the audiophile rags. At least, that's not how I see my own "relationship" to vinyl.

Motor power supply upgrades do work. I found the price of the upgraded Michell power supply hard to swallow, so I bought used.

The rules for matching cartridges to tonearms are a little tricky, as the dynamic compliance of cartridges is not reported consistently (differing by factors of even 2 or 2.5) or not at all by manufacturers. I guess the short answer on that one is: ask around first.

Thanks Daverz for your response and the link to the Analog Dept web site. Looks very useful.

I re-entered vinyl recently with a inexpensive used TT, a Project 9.1 a lower priced new Benz Glider a reasonable Nova Phonomena phono preamp and a VPI 16.5(a must have!).
I've had a friend's CD7 in my system and this "starter" rig bettered it, it's apples and oranges, your not "barking up the wrong tree". I like the GamuT CD-3 in my system better than the CD-7 it has a more organic sound to my ears and the vinyl rig is so superior to it I just can't wait to buy more vinyl!!
The one suggestion I would make is buy a table with an arm that has an adjustable (on the fly) VTA(I hope to soon) , this will enable you to tune your cart for the different thickness of vinyl and also make bass and treble adjustments.(right away this will put you in a higher price level and the rest should follow)

If you start with 0 LPs and 0 vinyl rig, right off the bat you have a decent-sized expense ahead of you. However, given the first sentence of your original post, the money (within reasonable limits) will not be the most "expensive" bit about jumping into vinyl. The "expensive" bit is the time spent looking for vinyl, fiddling with your system, reading about how to make it better, and eventually the vinyl itself. If you buy the gear used, and decide a year later you do not want it, you might take a small loss but not much of one. The other stuff (the Fremer DVD, the brushes and cleaning fluids, the time spent, etc) will all be more expensive.

I find vinyl playback to be enjoyable, but am not religious about vinyl being "better than digital." I use vinyl to discover music. I can buy lots of decent records for not much money, discover what I like, throw back the rest, and then I can go learn some more. I can also listen to what I have found. To a large extent, I do not pay lots of money for a great pressing in order to get a great original pressing of something I already have on CD or SACD. If I can find the record for $5, I might buy something I already have on CD.

Personally, I would recommend that you 'experiment with vinyl' in a completely different way. If you have garage sales or thrift shops in your area, I would try to find a used working Dual, Thorens, or other table from the 1970s or 1980s. If you buy a used cart (or spring for a new one) which matches the arm, you will get a lot of the subjective qualities you seek out of a $50 yard sale special and a $300 cart which matches (ask here or over on the Vinyl Asylum at Audioasylum.com for what would match). If you really want to go cheap, try a decent receiver from the 1970s at the same yard sale and you might find an acceptable phono stage. If after buying some thrift shop records, cleaning them, setting up the table, and setting it up again, you find joy in listening to the records you bought, and joy in finding more music and playing that, then the vinyl experience is for you and you can sell your garage sale finds at a garage sale and move up to a more expensive set-up.

Thanks Samhar and T bone. Appreciate the thoughts.