A good question. In a way, though, it's like going to look for a new car when the last time I bought one was years ago. If I went into a dealership looking to spend the same amount I'm sure I would get a lot less in a vehicle. In that, when we did buy a new car a year and a half ago, we had to shop around to get a sense of what the numbers were at that point and then finesse the numbers to make things work.

It feels the same with stereo equipment for me now. I'd have to get a sense of what it would take to get a good and better system and then allocate or save. I've always bought the best I could afford at the time rather than just get something that worked and would break in a couple of years.

I know it's not a great answer, but hopefully you or someone else would be kind enough to say, "You'll need to spend XX to get a decent turntable, XXX for a really good one with a good cartridge, and xx for good speakers and XXX for noticeably better ones. Best, I'm sure, would not be in the cards.