Helping a kid out


So long story short I got neighbor kid into audio and to appreciate listening to music on something other than a cheap Bluetooth speaker.  He’s pretty young but a good kid, a hard working honest kid.  So far he’s accumulated his old mans Dual turntable that I helped him clean up and installed an Ortofon 2M Blue on it, a nice but older Marantz integrated and a pair of Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2 speakers.  I hooked him up with a pair of Kimber 8TC speaker cables I had retired a while ago (lol, probably making them the most expensive part of his system).  He’s looking to upgrade and I suggested trying out a dedicated phono stage.  I’m assuming his budget is in the $200 range and I told his old man I wouldn’t let him buy something stupid.  I had no idea the sheer volume of phono stages in this price range on the market.  What would you guys and gals suggest?  My knee jerk reaction is Schitt Mani and I read a few good things about a Bellari unit but holy cow the choices are infinite.  Maybe something a little higher end but used?  Extra points if it can be purchased from Amazon but that’s by no means a deal breaker.
128x12810229
Something maybe hard to appreciate right now, but he is at a stage of life where something like this phono stage could well be with him a good 10 years or more. The value of a really good phono stage is almost impossible to understand until you hear one. This will instantly be his finest component, something he will only appreciate more and more over time.  

Next time give him Sinatra-Basie, he will be hooked for sure. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GphVjN5NXWA&list=PLdqqv4DQh82uHV5rybL4sFJUAVF5992DP&index=5
I'm in with Tomic & Drussell.....matching for the kid if you go the Bottlehead route.
Cool, looks like you and the kid are well on your way ;-)

bottlehead forum has community of builders / users…tips, etc..

Let me know