Help: ISO Beginner full setup for excellent sound on $2000 max budget


Overview: Brand new at this, looking for help purchasing beginner full setup of TT, Tube Amp, Speakers, Preamp that is aesthetically pleasing (i.e. minimalist, blends in as piece of furniture with plants), that sounds fantastic, and will stand up over the next 5-7 years, for $2000 max. I'm in search of the best sound, most aesthetically pleasing, and holds up longest overtime. If you could put together a beginner set of quality products for somebody about to enter their 30’s for xmas with a $2000 max budget, what would you include?


Hey y’all, I’m brand new to this and don’t want to jump down a huge rabbit hole, or spend countless hours contemplating decisions about these, not because I don’t have time, it’s just not good for me: I’m so bad at making decisions and I want somebody’s advice that I can trust. So, figured I’d start a dialogue:

I am looking for a simple setup with the following components for a small to midsized room:
- Turn Table (I like Rega, UTurn, and Pro-ject easthetics);
- Preamp (whatever pairs best with the entire setup);
- Speakers (what I think I should invest most in? - I like Omega Super 3 XRS Speakers); and
- Tube Amp (whatever pairs best with the entire setup - I like the Almarro a205a).

The most important aspects of these products are all:
- Durable (wanting to last a while and feel a little modern classic 6-7 years from now);
- Best sound for the price; and
- Aesthetically pleasing (this is important, it will be the center of my living room for the foreseeable future).

My music style: is mostly slower independent stuff: Sun Kil Moon, John Prine, Iron and Wine sounding stuff. Other than that I’ll mostly listen to Hip Hop, like J Dilla, or Rock, like Pearl Jam).

I’d love for it to be something that’s not jumping head first into this as a hobby, but something I can be proud of owning that I can play every day.

If you have any specifics please ask, I apologize for the length of this post, just figured I ’d try to be general enough so y’all could get an idea.
whyistherenopie
@douglas_schroeder yeah I’ve been oscillating between looking up products that have been suggested, reading 6moon reviews and Audigon forums, talking to some friends who are doing this right now, reading through others posts of people who have responded to this forum to see if anything is insightful, looking at transaction reviews to see if folks responding are reputable sources or if their customers trusted them, and trying to get an introductory lessons, via wiki or youtube, about physics basics for how to approach best sound, best use of power, best room setup. I’m trying to ask a lot of questions to start piecing together an image of the creature I’m blindly touching and trying to draw with the limited information I have that kind of feels an elephant (speaking figuratively). All the information hasn’t fallen on deaf ears, but there’s only so much time in the day to get these things done.

I appreciate the patience, the patronizing from some folks is understandable, but not really a helpful approach if you’ve got somebody who wants to learn but can’t leave your house to ask a shop, and I don’t know of many shops in my area that would care much about this subject if they even were open. I’m doing the best I can with the resources I have been given. Just know your suggestions have been looked at and the information I wanted to gather is in a spreadsheet along with the other suggestions made my folks. It just seems a bit foolish to start making a pie when you’ve never opened a recipe book about pies before, don’t have a family recipe in your back pocket, and don't really know what a pie is yet. 

The way I have always discovered information was to ask a lot of questions, and I apologize if some of these questions are beneath folks, or silly, or wrong, or I don’t what i’m talking about. I’m well aware of that, I stated it in my first post. I want to build this on my own, I don’t want this just handed to me from a record shop, all my reading has led me here, to Audigon, which is the whole purpose behind coming here and asking you all questions: you keepers of sacred knowledge.

So, whoever is reading this, I appreciate your help, know that I’m going through everything that people suggested, including you @soix , your suggestion was one of the first I looked at. Y’all have pointed me in some great directions so I’ll come back when I have further questions. Or if anyone wants to PM me you can, a few have and have been super helpful so far.
There will always be no pie if ya spend all your $$$ on a fancy plate...

you got great advice on Vandersteen Model 1 ( there is a pair of 1c on the Oceanside C-list right now for $200 w Soundanchors stands. A NAD 3
series amp with streamer, add a nice Schitt phono stage $128, MoFi or Rega entry table, Ortofon Blue, Spin Clean for your records !!! and wire it all with Blue Jeans cable... as advised you might also get lucky by calling Klaus and scoring a Kahtargo amp - a sonic beast
I don’t charge $500 to help people, I would ride your A to finish whatever school you are attending...
Also what geographic market are you in when things reopen ?

you could also get an Elac/NAD/Rega system that would sound and look great, be under warranty and leave you money for a tweak or three.. 
Steve Guttenberg on Audiophiliac- $2500 or less many choices to play with. Then do your research. I like this guy. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CApq8h336S0


Greetings!

I’m relatively new to audiophile level equipment myself but have a couple suggestions with links to Steve Gutenberg’s reviews. As mentioned above, he’s a pretty well known and regarded audiophile and reviews a lot of low-mid priced gear in addition to the higher end stuff

Speakers- Klipsch RP-600Ms are efficient and very highly rated Bookshelf speakers. A pair will cost ya about 500 Bucks.
https://youtu.be/4rQgSzyjq6U

For the Amp, definitely stay away from separates for now to get started. Reisong makes some decent cheap Tube Amps for a few hundred bucks if your heart is set on Tubes.https://youtu.be/vCk12xzivp8

Here’s a 950 dollar amp/speaker set up
https://youtu.be/0V5nZWWHh48

For the Turntable I use a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon still. For the money it’s decent and comes with a Cartridge. 400 bucks.

for your cables, check out this guy:
https://www.schmittcustomaudiocables.com
He has great quality, a big variety and you can get really nice cables for less than buying from many other companies. I particularly like the Interconnects made with vintage Western Electric Wire from the 40’s & 50’s, they provide a nice warm smooth sound.

just some thoughts, happy hunting!