Duddy, true audiophiles pay $1200 for specially tuned wooden knobs for their receivers. This thing is crazy.
For me, I found a point where "the rubber meets the road". Klipsch speakers on a Denon receiver sound great, and you can add all the crap in the world to it, if you like.
So far as a turntable goes, vinyl pops and cracks. That's the ambiance of vinyl. It's freakin cool. I've listened to tons when I was younger, and I can't say a Sesame Street lunch box turntable with a built-in speaker sounds any better or worse than the best turntable I've heard. My point being, don't spend a lot of money, go to yard sales. Make sure there's a needle in the deck and make sure the belt doesn't slip (there should be some tactile feedback when you spin the deck, sometimes the arm must be engaged to start the deck, so you may have to bring the needle close to the turntable).
Just have fun, bro-jam.
