Phono Stage Pre Amp

Of course, it depends on how much you want to spend, and what kind of cartridge you are going to use.

Many people like things such as the Black Cube, Monolithic, or similar ones, that are around $350 used to $700 new.

Others want tube phono stages which are typically more expensive, and generally have less gain, so more care in selecting cartridges is needed. Or you might need a step up device.

For tube/hybrid, ARC's PH3 is a great phono pre with about 56db of gain.

the general rule of thumb for phono pre-s:

the more you spend on the phono-preamp/cartridge the less expencive will be upgrades and time spent for it.
black cube, monolithic, phonomena, dino, plinius-jarrah are approximately in the same level of performance and are pretty descent phonostages but nothing realy serious. if you skip this level you can enter serious level of performance and dig from the grooves so deep that no CD-player for zillion bucks can.

the next level is the following: ARC PH3/PH3SE, BAT VKP5, Pass Aleph Ono, Pass X Ono, AudioSynthesis...

...and the next one is >$5k reference level.

the middle i believe has the best value per performance factor and very difficult to upgrade.
vpi scout even among vpi line is not an entry level table imo. in the same price route you can also try out Michell gyro SE or nottinham spacedeck