From high end digital to beginners analog?

I have about 300 records that I just used to stare at, never play because my CDs via a Rega Apollo sounded much better than my bottom feeder analog.
To upgrade my analog I bought: Rega P3, Denon Dl-103r, Musical Surroundings Phonomena Nova, all used at under $1200, retail over $2K. New Apollo cost $1K. Just to give you an idea what level I'm talking about.
The analog now sounds a little better than the Apollo, I play both CDs and LPs and can enjoy either without wishing I was listening to the other format.
So I don't think you'd be wasting your money - Provided you already have records. I would not expect a $2K - $4K analog setup to blow away hi end digital, or even a digital front end that cost $2K - $4K for that matter.
The other thing with records that probably sounds cliche and overstated is the tactile experience.

I am in the same boat as you, except that I am pretty serious about getting into Analogue :). You can read the couple of threads I have started in the analog section in the last one month. I am auditioning lots of TTs these days, yet to buy one.

Before getting serious about TTs I did some homework on this domain by talking to my audio friends who as into analog playback and listening to some of their TTs. What I understood and was also advised is, if you are already into good digital playback and want to try analog playback as well, never get into entry level analog. You will be most probably be dissapointed. Entry level analog playback lets you deal with all the hassles that comes with LPs but doesnt let you hear the superiority of LPs over CDs. So it leads to withdrawal symptoms and you may miss the analog bus forever. So, in essence, get a good TT with a good tonearm, cartridge and phonostage and then collect some well pressed records and then you know what Vinyls can do for you.

Yes, 4k for a table alone is decent but you also need to keep aside about 2k for the phono stage and at least about 1k each for tonearm and cartridge. Then you have a balanced LP playback system.

I can assure you, you will not feel your money is wasted. You will be happy that you did not leave this world as an audiophile who did not do "Analogue" :-)

Great responses above. My system is respectable on both fronts but my investment in the vinyl side is far larger. At retail my universal disc player + interconnects would go for ~$9K. My TT, tonearm/phono cable, cartridge, phono stage and RCM (as critical as any component) would retail for three times that amount. Further, I could easily add another $2-3K to the vinyl side (tonearm upgrade).

As good as the digital player is, the vinyl rig demolishes CD's. As others noted, low rez sources like CD cannot match high end analog, regardless of how much you spend to play the CD. OTOH, hi rez digital sources, particularly DVD-A and blu-ray, give the vinyl rig a run for its money and are better in some ways. They're easier and more convenient too.

Could my digital front end be matched/bettered for similar money? Maybe, but you'd have to be very astute or very lucky. Doing vinyl well provides certain satisfactions that even the best digital doesn't offer, but it's neither easy nor inexpensive.

IMHO, digital provides better value, and the extra money would better be spent elsewhere.

10-14-11: Unsound
"IMHO, digital provides better value, and the extra money would better be spent elsewhere."

I agree, provided you're starting from scratch and don't have a bunch of records. If you have a bunch of records then it depends on things like how many you have, your budget, how much you like cleaning and setting up...
A friend listened to my modest analog front end and started talking about prices and buying a TT. I told him to not even think about it because he doesn't own any records. By the time he bought the hardware and then a decent collection, he could get a much better digital front end plus a lot of CDs Hi Rez downloads. A no-brainer IMO.