A decent preamp to complete my setup?

Hopefully this doesn't irk anyone but cartridges haven't come into the equation just yet for me. I'm at work at the moment and away from home for the next month or two in a remote area , but I'm planning to do some local looking into cartridges when I get back to get as much info on them as I can since I know nothing at the moment. That being said I'm quickly coming to terms with the fact that a $300 budget isint gonna cut it in terms of getting everything I need to get up and running.

I can accept that since I really want the pay off for hearing that first note come through sounding marvelous to be as big as possible, and now my price point really opens up thankfully. If a phono stage, cartridge, and preamp are all things that I need, given my current equipment are there any recommendations you (or anyone for that matter) would care to give for any? I'm just a recent college grad so I can't do anything extravagant like $5,000 components, but anywhere up to $1,000 for some of the more key elements is fine with me. I'm patient and don't mind saving for things, I just don't know where to look and for what when it comes to buying things like phono stages or cartridges....for now anyways!

From the Absolute Sound...
The STA200 is a Class A/B amp with 80 watts of output into 8 ohms, 34.4dB gain.

With some preamplifiers, the STA200’s high gain could mean that the preamplifier could be operating in a less than optimal gain range.
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/optoma-nuforce-sta200-power-amplifier/

SVS Speakers...
freq. response: 45-32,000 Hz (±3dB)
recommended amplifier power: 20-150 watts
sensitivity: 87 dBnominal impedance: 8 ohms
bass-reflex cabinet with rear-firing port

Your speakers are 8 ohm so they should be a good match in terms of sensitivity and power with your amp.
As you stated, the NuForce has a high gain and would match well with a preamp of approximately 12 to 15dB.
The 2 or 3db quoted to you may really be 12 or 13dB.

Since your source is TT, the gain of the cartridge and phonostage also must be considered.
Do you know what cart you will be using?

Thanks for all the information and clarification lowrider! Talking shop with specs is still a very new practice to me, but it's great to hear from someone who knows what they're talking about that the original caution about gain wasn't completely off base!

At the moment I don't have an idea for what cartridge I'll be using, but that's mostly because I wanted to do some looking around back home in person at local shops to get a better idea (and understanding) of how they worked and functioned. Taking into account the gain of both the cartridge, phono stage, and preamp however, I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations for either that would help me get an idea of what to look for or even just flat out purchase. Like I said I'm perfectly fine expanding my budget by saving up more at the cost of getting everything up and running sooner, so at this point I'd like to assume I'm decently flexible on price points. I won't be able to throw around $4,000 for a preamp or anything of that magnitude, but I certainly am okay with moving a decent ways out of my original $300 mark since I need other components regardless.

If I'm you, I'd take a look at the Schiit Saga preamp and Mani phono preamp, which are $350 and $130, respectively.  The Mani will handle MM and MC cartridges, so you're not constrained depending on which cartridge you eventually choose.  The cool thing about the Saga is you can use it as a passive preamp that will probably work well with your amp, but you can also try it in active mode with a tube buffer to see if that sounds better to you.  And you can even play around with tubes if you want to try to refine your sound in one direction or another.  Anyway, that's what I'd do at your price point.  Best of luck. 

An excellent  suggestion from Soix.