Complete vinyl system, TT to speakers, for $1500?

She wants vinyl.  I don't think she would need my advice to assemble a digital system.  Nor would I have offered to give advice on a digital system. Seems vinyl is doable on her budget, based on the above posts.  The trick is to put oneself in her shoes; she's not an audiophile.  The resulting system does not have to make you and me ecstatic.

Also, she has a small apartment.  A "small" apartment in Tokyo is very small by our standards in the US. Our son makes a good income there and in the past has lived in very small spaces.  (He just bought a 2-BR unit that is reasonably spacious, but again only by Tokyo standards.  We stayed at his place for the first time in over 12 years of annual visits.)  Therefore, for his female friend, a TT/tonearm/cartridge that comes with a built in phono/linestage seems a good idea, driving self-powered speakers. 

Strateahead, I looked up the Fluance product line. The TT80 and TT81 come with a built in phono stage.  Whereas the TT85 does not.  For that reason, maybe the TT81.  On the other hand, her budget might allow a TT85 plus Ifi Zen, which I did see on sale there.  Next question would be self-powered speakers.

I deliberately chose a site with the Brand Sansui.

I have been demo'd this Brands Amp's in both SS and Valve on regular occasions and have been thoroughly impressed, with the experiences encountered. The Phon' Stage on the Valve Model is exceptional with a few of the SUT's and the Head Amp, it has been partnered with.

The SS version I am familiar with, has a very good Phon' with both MM/MC. The owner MM with a Ortofon SUT for numerous years until they produced their own Phon' Design.

I have been demo'd the SS Amp's MC, MM>SUT and New Design Phon as a comparison, the Sansui Amp' will make any new to Vinyl user quite happy.

Additionally, in the UK there are others reporting on forums about their being very impressed with SS Sansui Amp's.  

The Yamaha MS M515 Speakers will certainly produce a sound that will be very with Bookshelf Vibrancy, it is hopefully a presentation that has an attraction to a new vinyl user, the Speaker should work quite well with the Sansui. 

TT's with TA's are seemingly abundant, the question is which Cart' can be incorporated, as I assume the Cart's on the seen TT's might not be at their best stage in usage life.   

@lewm , did you get a chance to check the link in my post? Those systems have "... everything you need to play vinyl records." So the phono preamp is included with the top packages. Plus could be delivered, all-in for well under $1,500. What's not to like about that?

Hi, it's absolutely possible, I would start from finding a used NAD 3020 amplifier. Or an used REGA IO. One of these 2 would provide just the amount of watts you need for a small room and sounds amazing still today. Then add a pair of TANNOY T2 speakers. Regarding the turntable in the past a used to have a REVOLVER, which you can find for just 200 eur. But a REGA PLANAR 2 would be much better, if a new one in Japan it's too expensive you can look for an used one. For the Stylus an ORTOFON RED. I had this combo for years and it was really satisfying, for a small room it's just perfect. With a combination like that you're definitely still under 1.000 USD and can also concentrate on a very very decent Phono stage for 500 eur used or new. You just need to focus on used components, possibly vintage there are pearls out there for very cheap money and perfect for small spaces.