I'm pretty fresh at this all.. I recently got a CR 1020. I'm looking at starting to get into vinyl. Can anyone tell me if the phono section on this model is pretty decent, or should I look into getting an external phono amp?
One of the best phono sections you'll find in a receiver.
Something like a phono stage is one of the last things to worry about in your upgrade path. Unless you have a separate amp/preamp setup with some really nice speakers it won't make an appreciable difference.
I'll add my support to the above comments, for both the Moving Magnet and Moving Coil portions of the Phono. I've had a CA-810 since 1978 and I'm hard pressed to hear much better than it (well, except the Yamaha A-1, in DISC mode).