best 'affordable' turntable with moving coil cart

I like your reasoning and go with it. The MM5 is a great choice and you can experiment with cartridges after. But even in stock form you can get magic from vinyl.... with a good phono preamp. If you like the phono pre in your rig go with it but like you say it is a $2300 line stage with a $200 phono. You can always play with other phono stages after,just try before you buy.

04-13-09: Richmon
...So, with fiscal caution I'm going in, the Denon turntables you recomended look particulary interesting for my maiden voyage.

Before you jump on the Denon, I suggest you read this thread.
The responses in that thread laid to rest any interest or speculation I had in the Denon. I'll stand by my recommendation for a Technics SL1210 M5G with aftermarket feet, better mat, and fluid damper.

While I personally would lean to an older table (and that includes the older Denons), I can't argue with the rationale of going with a Technics 1210 (if you can stomach the looks). OTOH, if you want the 'upgraded version' like Johnnyb53 recommends, it will be cheaper to buy a fully-loaded KAB-modified model used rather than buying the table and adding the mods/etc yourself (and will mean less or no economic hit to you should you bail on vinyl or trade up).

04-13-09: Richmon
I really need to spend alot more time with a turntable, cause the difference between that 50K Lp system and my humble rig was not noteworthy. Maybe a longer audition in my home will reveal this proported superiority of analog over digital.

You may not hear significant differences in "critical listener" mode. I find that the biggest differences between CD and LP are in how they make me *feel*, not in the identifiable sonic differences in A/B comparisons.

The differences in digital and analog is best demonstrated by the shift in listening habits since the onset of digital in the late '80s. Popularity of the great storytelling vocalists has been replaced by the mimicry of Jessica Simpson and the vocal gymnastics of Mariah Carey and the like. Groups with a musical message who could write songs and play instruments have largely been replaced by pop-synth, sampled beats, rap, and hip-hop. Classical music, which suffers worst with what red book does to the sound of bowed strings, dropped from a respectable 5% to a near unmeasurable market share.

People gravitate to what sounds good on the medium at hand. By that standard, red book and below doesn't convey subtlety well, and LPs--the era of Sinatra, Bennett, the Beatles, Heifetz, Rubinstein, and Horowitz--did it particularly well. It's boom & sizzle vs. the music that resides between the bits.

Just stumbled onto this almost 7 year old thread of mine an thought I'd report back. I ended up buying a Music Hall MMF7 after a short time with a free B&O turntable.

I rarely play CD's anymore, almost exclusively listen to vinyl, way more fun, toe tapping and engaging. Critical listening is in my rear view mirror, I just enjoy the warm sound of vinyl way much more. Having access to cheap vinyl is a big piece of this, I live in an area with record shows and vinyl shops galore so I'm constantly picking up new to me lp's.
Next stop will probably be a VPI prime with an ART-9 cartridge, there's not a speck of regret re-immersing into vinyl.