Reasonable moving coil cartridge

In my opinion....

The price range you're suggesting does not have any adequate moving coil cartridges.  Or t least any moving coil cartridges that start to reveal some of the potential of MC carts.  IMO, the real entry-level moving coil cartridge is the Audio Technica OC9/II.  Some higher-priced cartridges are as good, but they are higher-priced.  At their price point, Audio Technica moving coil cartridges seem to be the best in their respective classes.  Many of their top cartridges are based on the OC9 design.  And for good reason.  

I used OC9/II's for years.  Only recently have I moved to Lyra cartridges.  But I still have an OC9/II as a backup.  

@bpoletti, unless I am mistaken jumping from an ATOC9II to Lyra is at least an order of magnitude jump in the price. Does that  jump REALLY justify the sonics ?  Note that at my age of 62, I very much doubt I hear anything over 16k if I am lucky.

Gotta ask a question.  Back in the day, the SME arms were not considered to be highest quality as they had a removable headshell.  Arms with fixed headshells were considered SOTA.

Has this changed over the years?  What arms are considered to be SOTA today?  Back then Linn Sondek was considered the best belt drive table and Technics the best direct drive. although there was a constant back-and-forth as to which drive was "better."

Today?

Cheers!

I'd suggest having a read over at The Korf Blog.  It's the only place I know of where measurements of (a few) tonearms and headshells can be found.
Anyway, there are a number of very good tonearms around today which feature removable headshells.  Ikeda, Thomas Schick and Reed to name the three which spring immediately to mind.  No doubt there are more.
I doubt that anyone today would consider the LP12 to be the best belt drive table available, while the Technics is likely still up there.  Not many new DDs
to be had these days though.

Do you need the built-in MM preamp? You do not!  Don’t waste your money on a table with that feature!  Check out the Fluance RT-85; it is supplied with an Ortofon 2M Blue MM cart. Enjoy for now, then choose the ATO9XEN. Or buy both and sell off the unused 2M Blue. You’ll pay $850, recoup maybe $150...still right on budget.