my Son wants to get into vinyl and is looking for a good integrated amp with a good phono section. his budget is probably up to $1200.
An amp should really be chosen first by its ability to drive a pair of speakers. Not by what phono stage it has. What good would a killer built-in phono stage be if the rest of the integrated amp could not properly drive his speakers?
So what kind of speakers does he have?
Concentrate on powering the speakers first and then worry about the phono stage. Besides, a phono stage is just a feature and there are plenty of entry level external phono stages that would far outperform built-ins found in a $1200 integrated anyway.