best 'affordable' turntable with moving coil cart

My suggestion would be a used Rega P3 with a Sumiko Blue Point ($299).

Your phono stage doesn't require a moving coil cartridge; it's just been engineered to do low output moving coils particularly well. Read the specs again; it can accept *any* cartridge with output from 0.2mV to 4.0mV.

0.2mV to about 2.5 mV covers the output range of most moving coil cartridges. But notice that your Chenin accepts all the way up to a 4.0mV output. This is squarely in moving magnet and moving iron territory.

Why you'd want to pair a $500 turntable with a $2900 tubed phono stage I can't imagine, but whatever. Moving magnet and Grado moving iron cartridges make the most sense at that price range and your phono stage will have no problem with them whatsoever.

In the MMF 5.1 price range you could also consider a Rega P2, Technics SL1200, SOTA Moonbeam, or Denon DP-500M. You can use any cartridge you want, regardless of underlying design as long as its output is between 0.2mV and 4.0mV, which is 99% of them.

Good entry level carts would include the Ortofon 2M Red ($99) or Blue ($199), Grado Prestige Red ($140) or above, Denon DL-110 ($139) or 160 ($179), or the Audio Technica AT150MLX ($299-399). If you get into the low output moving coil realm, check out the Audio Technica OC-9 ($339) or Denon 301 II ($329).

Richmon, I'm with Johnnyb53. You have a very nice phono-pre, and from what I can tell from other threads, a nice set of speakers. It would be a shame to be turned off vinyl because you don't think it does well compared to your digital (which will probably gain some 'smoothness' because of the tube output stage vs an op-amp output stage in other CDPs). If you need to stick to $500 for table+arm+cart, you will be woefully 'undercutting' your system's capabilities, but it can be done. If I "really, really wanted to stick to $500" (+ shipping), I would 'cheat' and be flexible :^) Otherwise, I would go for a table older than either the Rega or the MMF - you can get more bang for buck with an older table (the Denon DP72L mentioned below listed for $400 (and sold) today is shown as having an $800 MSRP but that was 25yrs ago and that table had 15yrs of motor technology built/amortized into it by that time). There is an Empire 598 offered at ~$600 and a Lenco L78 listed for a lot less, both of which would be vastly improved by a better plinth at some point (not to mention better arm, though there are some who like the Empire arm). There is also a VPI HW19 and a Project RM-5 listed in the area of $500. Finally, the Technics SL1200 is a pretty darned good deal (though some will not like it's "DJ-style" looks. On a used basis, you might be able to get a KAB-modified one for your budget, otherwise I think a new one would come in under, and then you'd have to add a cart.

If the arm you end up with is on the heavy side, I can recommend the Denon 103 cart, which should be available for around $200 new.