Trying a turntable-it sounds crappy, what's up??

Something decent for 500 is attainable. There are a number of darn good cartridges you could get for around 150. Poke around the archives here to get other peoples perspectives or maybe start a new thread. Slap that baby on your technics and listen for a while. Then, if the hook is set, and I think it will be, take your remaining 350 and get a nicer table. You could get a rega p3 for about that. It's a nice table with a great arm and is pretty much plug and play. Another option would be to go with an older thorens. Less money, but a little bit trickier to find in good conidition and set up properly due to its age and suspended design. The good thing about the thorens and rega is that you could resell them for what you paid, though I doubt you would want to.

Shersta - Any recommendations on $150 (I assume used) cartridges?
I kind of like your suggested upgrade path of getting a decent cartridge to throw on this table and then go from there.

"Was kind of hoping I could get something fairly decent for 5 bills, but maybe that is not realistic."

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=64626&item=5736422709&rd=1

There's some people here that have good analog knowledge but not experienced with direct drive or idler wheel drives, much less tweaking and modding them. Thus, they have NO clue where to place direct drives/idler decks in proper perspective w/ belt drives. Take TWL, for example. He's an authority but badmouthed the SL-1900. At least he hit the brakes after Frap commented on actual *experience*. Then there's the parrots, who will repeat over and over choices that will actually set you back: Rega P3, Music Hall, Project. Yeah, right...

If you learn how to tweak & work on your 1900 you'll set up a knowledge base that will let you further enjoy music and know what to listen for. Then you'll be in a position to make your own mind...

As a side note, the 1900 does not have "on the fly" VTA adjustment, so it's best not to use a cartridge with a line contact/hipereliptical stylus. The 881S I suggested does. I would call Kevin Barrett at KAB Electroacoustics and have him help me choose a cartridge. Perhaps one of the Ortofon Concorde's will do the job nicely, perhaps a Shure M97 will work right.

Kevin is an analog expert and a professional. An integrated headshell cartridge will get you going fast. I use Kevin's modded Stanton Groovemaster, an integrated headshell model and couldn't be happier. It does have a line contact (Stereohedron) stylus grafted to the assembly, though.

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Lkdog,
The only thing a little tricky about that path, is cartridge/arm matching. I have no idea what the effective mass is of your current arm (someone else here may have some info on that), but you will need to match the cartridge compliance to it. Then if you upgrade you'll need to get a 'similar' arm, or sell off the cartridge. Many (but not all) modern arms are sufficiently middle-of-the-road on mass that most (but not all)cartridges will work. Make sure you do a bit more homework before you paint yourself into a corner.

There's an old Chinese proverb that goes something like: It is unwise to leap a chasm in two bounds. I could be all wet, but I'd hate for you to spend some not insignificant amount money, yet be disappointed and write off analog rather than trying to spend what it takes to begin to get a representative view.

I almost threw up when I connected my turntable for the first time after a 15 year hiatus (it's a new cheapie, but still..).

Then I realized that the damn thing was being bounced around by the output of the speakers. At any decent volume, the needle skids right off the platter!

Now I have the turntable in another room, and all is well..problems that just don't occur with cd's!