How tight is the budget?
I had surprisingly good results from a Cambridge Audio Azur 551p stage,find on eBay lightly used about $75.
It worked well enough for me, has no options. Is MM only and no adjustment for cartridge loading or gain but I don’t think you really need that right now.
From the specs I could find it does not seem like a fussy cart, 47k , 5mv, vtf 1 to 1.5. I honestly do not think you need spend a fortune to get good results. But I am sure you will get a lot of opinions.....
I had surprisingly good results from a Cambridge Audio Azur 551p stage,find on eBay lightly used about $75.
It worked well enough for me, has no options. Is MM only and no adjustment for cartridge loading or gain but I don’t think you really need that right now.
From the specs I could find it does not seem like a fussy cart, 47k , 5mv, vtf 1 to 1.5. I honestly do not think you need spend a fortune to get good results. But I am sure you will get a lot of opinions.....