Hey from Detroit

Welcome, Mitch! I am Italian, but I have been living for a while in the past (2018 and 2019) in Pontiac... Nice to see someone from the Detroit area! I miss it sometimes (not the winters, though!)

Hi Mitch, as suggested  by others, the loan scheme is a superb way of trying out the Graham Slee gear and find out what suits you best  by listening. A word of warning though, it is addictive!. Like yourself I started  by wanting a phono stage that would give me more music from my old vinyl. I got a Reflex MM loaner and was sold on it within days, then ended up buying a  Accession as it offered equally good sound but with the advantage of a variable output that I use for 'ripping'.  But that was not sufficient, I thought if the phono stage can make such a huge difference, what would it be like with Proprius amps. You can guess the result, I have already got a Majestic pre/dac that has transformed my digital source and I'm waiting for my Proprius to be built. 

Working on the $ = £ the ERA Gold V is at the top of your budget, I have not tried this one as I went to the Refex M but you could go for the SE2 with the PSU1 power supply. the trouble I have is they are all good phono amps. Best thing to do is try out the loan program, If I was going for 1/2 your budget I would see if I can loan the Communicator and SE2 both of which you can add PSU1 later when you got the funds, What I can say is you will notice the low noise (pop and things) the bad things you don't want hear when playing Vinyl, that was one of the first things that impressed me when I got the SE2