Advice on a turntable for a clean midlevel system

Well Tempered Amadeus. IME, I have yet to hear anything better at even twice its price point. And it includes a phenomenal tonearm.

I have one daughter in college and another in private school so I understand your situation. I think one of the best routes for an inexpensive turntable is a nice circa 80's Thorens or AR. The ARs are easier to upgrade arms. Both are suspended table designs so they need to be isolated from footfalls. These table have soul and have glorious midrange with the right equipment and cartridge. You can find nice AR ES1s or "the turntable" with many different arms that are ultimately manufacured by Jelco in the $500 range. You can slowly upgrade the table over time as budget allows. Spend some time at the Vinyl Nirvana wesite. Many will regale you with Rega and the Rega upgrade path. Personally I am not a Rega turntable fan. Different strokes for different folks. BTW, with your musical tastes you should really consider a tube integrated amp!

If £2500 is midlevel, I'm going to recommend the table I own myself, the Michell Gyro SE. You can often find it packaged with their Technoarm.

You should also consider a used VPI Scout with a few tweaks like the Gingko cloud and the Nordhost Valhalla wiring for the tonearm. Great value for a great TT.

Any of the VPI tables that meet your budget. I have a classic and love it. I listen primarily to jazz and classical.

Chuck