Getting back into venal with a $2,000 budget.

Another option is the Pioneer PLX-1000 ($650) with Soundsmith Carman cartridge (can be had for $800). Then you may be able to find a gently used Soundsmith MMP3 phono stage within your budget.  PLX-1000 has had some really nice reviews.

Hi - 

Adding to my original comments ...

For me, my initial spend would depend on how sure I was that I was going to stick with vinyl in the medium term.  

I found that once I embraced vinyl, it became like everything else with audio (or guitars or cars or ) ... I tweaked and when I maxed out tweaking, I upgraded ... first cartridges, then preamps, then TTs themselves.  I dismissed some wise words I read along the way which went like ... buy the best you can, because you will be winding up there at some point.  

Without getting into my travails of the last 6 years, I would just offer to make sure that vinyl will be a keeper for you, before sinking in major bucks.  At the end of the day, $2K is a drop in the bucket with vinyl, especially given how much most prices in audio have increased in the last 2 years alone.

One of the best features about the 1500C is its built-in preamp.  Besides saving you some money, it's decent and it will save you having to deal with ground loops & hum & some of the TT agita that comes with setting up vinyl.  Personally, I would trade in the Ortofon Red, if the dealer would allow it.  

Try to make your initial foray into vinyl headache free and your chances of keeping & using your set-up will increase.

Best of luck,  

Rich 

Do yourself a favor and stretch a bit and get the $1600 Technics with a mofi preamp and let the dealer install a good $500 cartridge. The technics is trouble free and will probably last forever. Also- you will have dealer support, which you absolutely will need when you’re new to it. The Marantz is nice. I set one up for a friend, but the technics is nicer, IMO. 

New Marantz is a good deal with the included cartridge. However you can do way better than that on a used market.