It may be more costly than you were planning, but, The Well Tempered Reference with a Grado Reference is a reliable and extremely musical combination. You may find the table and arm used, and affordably, and should enjoy the high output of the Grado. The key to this combination is proper setting of the damping (along with the usual adjustments). Begin with the paddle only 1/2 submerged in the fluid and make fine adjustments from there. You will know when you get it right. I have heard this combination hold it's own extremely well compared to far more expensive analog front-ends.
Turntable/Arm/Cartridge Upgrade
I'd like to get some feedback from people on an upgrade path. I currently have a older (10 yrs or so) Rega Planar 3 with some minor mods, the RB-300 arm and a Sumiko Blue Point Special. I'm running it into a Classe 6 MKII Pre with a pair of Classe Dr-8's and Vandersteen 3's. I'm thinking about upgrading the whole analog setup but I'm wondering how much money I'm going to have to spend to make it really worth it. Any Ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.