Welcome Drew !! Glad you found us. Re-capping the 35 should not prove to be too difficult. Lots of threads and info available here.
Go ahead and add a belt kit and a good cleaning / re-lubricating for that CD player. The belts have certainly turned to goo or dried up. Good news is they are easily replaced and are cheap - look on ebay for people selling kits.
As far as not being "high end", if it sounds good to you, it's high end to your ears - and that is what matters.