My Mother had an old Zenith Stereo, it seems like a real POS but it's all she needs. It's an all-in-one unit, receiver/amp, tape deck, and record player.

Would I would like to do is buy her a new one for her new house. She doesn't need nor want anything special, she'll never turn it above alarm clock radio volume, all she wants is the ability to play an old record 2 or 3 times a year.

I'm having trouble finding a cheap stereo with record player (and speakers, of course). Any advice?

She might go of the retro units made by Crosley. Quality-wise, they'll be at least as bad as her old Zenith. Sony and a few others make cheap turntables with built-in phono stages, which you could plug into a minisystem. Beyond that, you're talking about components.

Quality-wise, he Zenith is fine for her. It just looks like crap: the tape draw is broken out, the front of the unit is worn, the speaker cabinets are huge but there is only a single 5 inch driver in it.

I just wanted to get her something cheap to look better.

What is a "built-in phono stages"? Is that something so you could connect the record player directly into the RCA ports of a minisystem instead of the "phono" ports of a receiver with a separate "Phono" input?

What is a "built-in phono stages"? Is that something so you could connect the record player directly into the RCA ports of a minisystem instead of the "phono" ports of a receiver with a separate "Phono" input?
Exactly! Good guess. It's usually switchable, so you can attach the table to either a phono jack or a line jack.

FYI if your Mom would be okay with having separate components, here's an idea:

Stereo receiver: for $100, get the Sherwood two-channel FM/AM stereo receiver (with phono input) from Radio Shack.

Turntable and cartridge: at Circuit City, Best Buy or at Amazon.com, for about $120, buy the Audio-Technica turntable and cartridge unit.

Two speakers: Buy two good component speakers on simple stands (i.e. the Polk Audio R15 would be worth considering).

Make sure to connect the antenna to the FM/AM tuners, your Mom might even like listening to the radio as well as listening to her LPs. The system will probably last several years and sound pretty good.

The only part of seatacboy's advice that I'd quibble with is the turntable. I think the Technics SL20BD, for about the same price, is a somewhat better choice. The cartridge will probably be kinder to your records, and is easily replaceable.

That would be better than the Sony turntable for about $100?

I have an Aiwa minisystem that I was planning on using for my Mothers system, it's a little bit older and nothing special, but it should be fine for her tastes. It also has a tape deck, radio, and CD player so for the price of $Free I think it'll work out great.

What your Aiwa system won't have is a phono preamp. I believe the Sony and Audio-Technica turntables have phono preamps built into them, so you can connect those tables directly to the Aiwa. The Technics does not, so you'd need to buy a separate preamp (for less than $50 at www.phonopreamps.com (http://www.phonopreamps.com)).

The advantage of the Technics is that it uses a lower tracking force than the other two, so it won't wear out your records quite so fast. That might not matter much to your mom, especially if her records have been played on mediocre equipment over the years, and are already worn. It's up to you whether you want to spend the extra $$ for the Technics + preamp. The choice between the Sony and the A-T is probably a coin flip, but I can't say I've compared them directly.

The Sherwood receiver sold at Radio Shack includes a phono preamp. Some current Onkyo and Harman/Kardon stereo receivers also include a phono stage.

The SL20BD is probably the best truly low-cost turntable. It is a belt-drive unit, using a standardized P-mount tonearm and cartridge design dating back to 1981. The SL20BD's basic technology dates all the way back to the SL-23 introduced in 1976.

You have an amazing number of choices for speakers. Good luck assembling a nice LP playback system for your mom.