Newbie needs advice

Baloney. Get a TT. Used, inexpensive new, whatever you can afford. The LP world does NOT have to be expensive to be a lot of fun and really rewarding. New things are available like entry level tables, inexpensive phono preamps, etc., that are killer. Vinyl is rising from the ashes with increasing interest among newbies (and some oldbies), new pressing plants, and more good sources for LPs all the time. Don't be denied!

TTs dont need to be expensive or complicated if you are new to vinyl.

google Needle Doctor to see all the possibilities.
I suggest staying away from vintage, since you may need to spend $ to get them up to spec. I recommend a "plug and play" TT. Also, budget tables will come with a cartridge.

I would say to not be afraid to try vinyl playback. BUT! as a newbie I'd suggest start out with a minimal budget. If you search an old vintage table even a thrift store find, PRE 1985 model I'd say. By the late 80's Made In Japan tables were SHITE!

If you need a phono preamp don't go to high yet.

The idea of mine is to see if the effort and ritual of pulling out a LP and putting it on a table, running a min. a carbon fibre brush over it and then dropping a needle, listen for about 20 min, get up flip album over and repeat.

If you find you are ok with that then set a budget to move up to a more serious table and NO you do not have to spend mega bucks!

You can get a quality turntable, cartridge, phono preamp set up for between $500-$1000. Of course if you have a budget to let you go more than that well then fine.

But do not be afraid of trying vinyl, just don't go crazy until you find if you are willing to learn how to handle, store, clean and spin LP's as well as if you are ok with flipping disc over every 20 odd minutes.

BE CAREFUL IT CAN BE ADDICTIVE AND FUN TO THE RIGHT TYPE OF MUSIC LISTENER! :-)

I totally disagree with the above responses.....I threw out all my turntable/vinyl stuff back in the 80's. In the fall of 2011 I bought a Rega P3/24 and I cant stop buying records! I buy mostly used records from the early 60's thru the 80's. I clean them and treat them and store them in plastic. It has been super rewarding finding GEMS at garage sales, friends giving me records also used vinyl stores and vinyl conventions ect... I would buy a Audio-Technica LP120 this would match perfect with your Marantz reciever. It stuns me how little it costs to build up a big collection of vinyl. Also, look for ORIGINAL used records not re-pressings.New records are very nice and expensive..they really don't sound any better than a original, good, clean record made 30 years ago.

Matt

Regarding new items: Project Carbon...400 bucks includes nice cart, Cambridge 641p under 200 (the Pangea P100 power supply is currently $69 at Audio Advisor...I have 2 of these and they are amazing), Spincleans are $75...set of Mobile Fidelity "master sleeves" 50 for $20, anti static brush maybe 10 bucks?, stylus cleaner...can't remember but lasts forever. You get the point.