Help a vinyl newbie improve his rig

Scott, as you evolve your system, consider making each step at least a "double-step up" or greater. The tables you mention are in that range, but you might even consider holding off until you can make a tier further up the latter move. Keep in mind that major differences will show up in the quality of the tonearm, and cartridges have large tonal balance and resolution differences.

For any of your gear, consider buying used rather than new. Used prices will be 50% less than new on average. Many of us have had good success building systems over time in this way.

Good luck in your journey!

Rushton offers great advice and I think that you are headed in the right direction.

What concerns me is that you make no mention of your current, or future, phono cartridge. A phono cartridge is a transducer, just like a speaker; it converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. A properly matched phono cartridge and turntable that is quite modest will sound much better than a poorly matched set that is more ambitious, so you should really consider the turntable and cartridge as one system.

Welcome to the monkey house.

Do yourself a favor and just buy a simple cork Mat. or better yet a Herbies's TT mat from Herbies Audio Lab.
That alone should keep you happy for a year anyway.
There is nothing wrong with what you have, and as Vridian said, you need to get up to 1500-2000$ range to hear much difference. And unless you are listening to acoustic music i.e, jazz or classical it would just be a waste of money anyway.

Maybe do some tweaks like Schubert says, but I wouldn't rush into anything new just yet because you just got the setup, and are happy with it. The more time that you spend on getting familiar with your current TT setup, the better position you'll be in when you go to upgrade. Right now, you're not listing any improvements, or goals that you would like to achieve with an upgrade. Knowing where you want to go is very important because without direction, there's a good chance you'll make a mistake. The only advice I can give you on upgrading your current setup is that when you upgrade your cartridge or phono preamp, you need to consider them both. If you do a little research on the differences between low and high output MC carts and MM carts, as well as various phono pre/step up devices that are available, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Its best not to do anything until you understand the relationship as to how these parts work together.

If you have the money, and are really set on doing something now, there's plenty of other vinyl related products, that you can buy now and keep through upgrades, so you won't be wasting your money. Along with the matt, you may want to look into getting some record cleaning products, and maybe a speed control. Speed control's make a big difference, especially when you have a budget TT.

A good resource for you is The Cable Company (www.fatwyre.com). This place carries just about anything you'll ever want regarding this type of equipment. What makes them so useful is their demo program. Whatever they sell, they have demo units available to send you to try in your system first, before you buy anything. I've been using them for stuff like this since the mid 90's, and I wouldn't do it any other way. They're one of the most reputable B&M type dealers I've ever used.