Of course, the 500C has a phono stage. It would be usable for moving magnet or high output moving coil cartridges, but too low gain for low output moving coil units. Peter Breuninger describes the 500C's inputs in his review in the June 2005 issue of Stereophile, from which I quote:
"The 500-C's amplifier section has five front-end inputs: two phono inputs and a tape-head input (all three of these use the phono stage but with different equalization options selected), a monitor input, and an Aux input. The phono/tape-head stage uses one 12AX7 tube per channel for about 20dB of amplification. A Sumiko Blue Point Special high-output MC phono cartridge is a good match gain-wise, but for lower-output MCs, it's best to use a step-up transformer to lower the noise floor."
With this, I would probably opt for using the "Aux" input for an outboard phono preamp. This would preserve the "Monitor" input as a logical choice for a line level tape source or for use with a processor loop.
"The 500-C's amplifier section has five front-end inputs: two phono inputs and a tape-head input (all three of these use the phono stage but with different equalization options selected), a monitor input, and an Aux input. The phono/tape-head stage uses one 12AX7 tube per channel for about 20dB of amplification. A Sumiko Blue Point Special high-output MC phono cartridge is a good match gain-wise, but for lower-output MCs, it's best to use a step-up transformer to lower the noise floor."
With this, I would probably opt for using the "Aux" input for an outboard phono preamp. This would preserve the "Monitor" input as a logical choice for a line level tape source or for use with a processor loop.