Advice sought (Garrard Zero 100)

You'll have to decide what cartridge will work well(regarding resonance) with the tonarm's effective mass(hi/med/low compliance), whether it will be MM or MC. If it's MC: what MC head-amp matches the cartridge's output best(hi/med/low gain). The Shure V15 line of cartridges was used very effectively in your particular table for years, and is even still mentioned on the site:(http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/us_pro_djlibrary_phonograph) Pursuing that combo may save you a lot of headaches. Your pre-amp/integrated/receiver will need to have a phono stage, or you'll have to run one outboard. The rest of the considerations are common to all of us as far as system compatability/synergy.

i've got some boston T830s; i've heard good things about them but haven't used them yet.

I never thought the Boston speakers sounded like music(recessed midrange, muddy, rolled off highs, Then again there are those out there that like the system to sound "laid back", so it becomes a matter of your personal tastes. Do you listen to any live music? To me- That's the reference. There we be a number in here that will say that's wrong for a plethora of reasons, but- who cares?(live music's my reality) It would be good to take your Bostons around and listen to them compared to other brands when you are auditioning electronics. Find a dealer that will let you listen undisturbed for awhile. There are a lot of speakers/electronics out there that sound exciting at first, but get fatiguing very quickly. Take some recordings with you that you know are of high quality(that eliminates at least one variable between stops). How much do you intend to spend?

since i'm just getting my feet wet with this, i'm not looking to spend a ton off the bat. there are some older preamps that a friend has shown me on this site that would be a good place to start for $100-200; i know that you get what you pay for, so i'm trying to do my legwork now.

I see! The quality of sound at the price will be very limited, even if you were just shopping for a phono pre-amp alone. Years ago I was a Davis Hafler Corp dealer, and of course used a lot of their products. The DH101 or DH110 were both pretty good solid state pre-amps, with really decent phono sections. Here's someone selling one with a guarantee(really unusual for a piece that old). He's nuts on his shipping costs, but it's guaranteed to be fully functional. The phono section is easy to change resistance and capacitance in for various cartridges. (http://cgi.ebay.com/HAFLER-PRE-AMP-PREAMPLIFIER-DH110-110-with-RACK-EARS_W0QQitemZ360044865514QQihZ023QQcategoryZ39783QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) You can pick up a Hafler DH-200 or DH-220 to go with it and probably be satisfied with the results for years. I'm still using a Hafler product(a TransNova 9505) to power my woofers. Great stuff! here's a site that will allow you to download the manuals for the pieces I've mentioned: (http://www.hafler.com/techsupport/index.asp?ID=3) It would be well worth your time to look into these. In your price range they cannot be beat.