$450 = Project Debut Carbon DC with Ortofon 2M Red Cartridge
http://www.needledoctor.com/Pro-Ject-Debut-Carbon-DC-Black?sc=2&category=352
$420 = Denon DP300F Automatic Single Play with Ortofon 2M Red Cartridge
http://www.needledoctor.com/Denon-DP300F-with-2M-Red-Package?sc=2&category=348
$400 = TEAC TN-300 Cherry -
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_063TN300CH/TEAC-TN-300-Cherry.html?tp=48766
$450 = Music Hall MMF2.2 -
http://www.needledoctor.com/Music-Hall-MMF-2-2-Turntable_2?sc=2&category=351
Absolutely NOTHING below this turntable -
$300 = Audio Technica LP-120 USB -
http://www.needledoctor.com/Audio-Technica-LP120-USB-Turntable?sc=2&category=358
Though I think I can find that
Audio Technica for about $250 if is of interest. Decent arm, decent direct drive motor, and only a fair case - lots of plastic. Though for the low price certainly about the best you can get for that small amount of money. It should have a built in Phono Pre-Amp, though you can by-pass it, and it has USB output so you can record vinyl to your computer.
The
Project Debut Carbon DC is a highly rated turntable with a really top notch cartridge. It likely tops most of the lists of suggested entry level turntables.
The
Denon DF300 has a nice tone arm, the same
2M Red cartridge, and it has the Auto-Play feature, which is actually very handy. Push one button and the motor starts, the Arm moves to the record, plays to the end, and then the Tone Arm come back to rest and the motor shuts off.
The
Music Hall is a decent turntable and it does have a nice cartridge, but probably not the equal of the 2M Red.
The
TEAC is new, and judging from the looks I would expect nothing less than a fine turntable for the money. It probably has a decent cartridge, but it takes a lot to beat the highly rated
Ortofon 2M Red.
Many of these come in other finishes and colors, if you are interested.
Others may disagree but that is probably the top of the list for under $500 Turntables.
There are some
DJ Turntables which make the grade but you need to make sure you get a long "S" Tone Arm and a HiFi Cartridge, NOT a DJ cartridge and NOT a short straight tone arm. The operative word being a
SHORT tone arm. There are plenty of fine straight long tonearms out there.
http://www.needledoctor.com/Audio-Technica-LP1240-USB-Turntable?sc=2&category=44
http://www.needledoctor.com/Stanton-Turntable-ST-150?sc=2&category=354
It might be possible to find better prices on any of these. I just used the first place I found them so you could see the Turntable and get a general idea of the prices.
There is also one model better
Project Debut Carbon called the
Esprit DC ($599), unclear whether it comes with a cartridge or not. But there are some improvements like the acrylic Platter -
http://www.needledoctor.com/Pro-Ject-Debut-Carbon-Esprit-DC-Black?sc=2&category=352
That should be enough to get you started.
Steve/bluewizard