With $ being an issue, I highly recommend buying used. But, it will help if you know what you want or what you're looking for and looking at.
The Systemdek IIX can be a great buy. There's one available now for $500 or so that I would consider.
I'm pretty bored by the Rega, MMF, etc. etc. tables.
You're really putting together a combo of ttable base, arm and cartridge. If any one of the three sucks, the whole thing sucks. At a reasonable price, I'm a big fan of Grado cartridges. They sound really nice, work well with most mid range tonearms.
The Systemdek IIX can be a great buy. There's one available now for $500 or so that I would consider.
I'm pretty bored by the Rega, MMF, etc. etc. tables.
You're really putting together a combo of ttable base, arm and cartridge. If any one of the three sucks, the whole thing sucks. At a reasonable price, I'm a big fan of Grado cartridges. They sound really nice, work well with most mid range tonearms.