Very solid advice by mofi, lowrider & sbank above. With hardware, I prefer Sota and Rega along with Ortofon & Dynavector, but hardware suggestions are irrelevant at this point. You have a tasty ARC rig that is capable of revealing very minute detail. Instead of getting on a merry-go-round of empirical testing and upgrades, do your homework and understand what you're getting into first. The table, arm and cartridge are just the beginning, as others have noted above. Source material, surface cleaning, storage, position in your rack, phono stage, interconnects, all must be considered.
$3K will buy a very nice vinyl set from any one of a number of companies, but because of the rest of your system, deferring gratification toward a larger investment made later could be a more prudent course of action. Your system would definitely reveal the improvement possible going from a $3K level to a $4K level. Many of us who've been spinning vinyl for years will swear that digital simply can't compare. I am one of them. The best way to discover if this might be true for you, of course, is to take the time to do some auditions. There really is no substitute for this step. Yours are the ears that must be satisfied, and this stuff is way too much $$$ to guess about, even at the entry level.
Since we all have the vinyl disease (otherwise, why would we post here), you can ask for input whenever you need it and we'll happily tell you what we think. With that in mind, keep us up-to-date on your journey. Enjoy your exploration of vinyl and happy listening whatever you decide!
$3K will buy a very nice vinyl set from any one of a number of companies, but because of the rest of your system, deferring gratification toward a larger investment made later could be a more prudent course of action. Your system would definitely reveal the improvement possible going from a $3K level to a $4K level. Many of us who've been spinning vinyl for years will swear that digital simply can't compare. I am one of them. The best way to discover if this might be true for you, of course, is to take the time to do some auditions. There really is no substitute for this step. Yours are the ears that must be satisfied, and this stuff is way too much $$$ to guess about, even at the entry level.
Since we all have the vinyl disease (otherwise, why would we post here), you can ask for input whenever you need it and we'll happily tell you what we think. With that in mind, keep us up-to-date on your journey. Enjoy your exploration of vinyl and happy listening whatever you decide!