Best TT for the buck?

For a first tt, I have been extremely pleased with my Pro-ject Debut III. The gloss black version is $359 at NeedleDoctor at the moment. You can probably get them to discount it and the rest of your order another 10%. Upgrade the stylus (not the cartridge) and get a SpeedBox and you should be pretty happy. I upgraded the cartridge to a mc; if you do this, you will also need to get the acrylic platter. If I had it to do over, I would just upgrade the stylus on the pre-installed cart.

The big plus here is the easy setup, the ability to return it if you don't like it, and a warranty. Setup takes about 5 minutes, and the tt sounds pretty good :)

Otherwise, you might want to check around for a killer deal on a Rega P2.

PMB

Get a new MMF 2.1 or whatever there entry table is...

denon 500

I don't really live in an area where there are any hiding electronic places to go listen to TTs. I live in MS and almost no one in the area even knows what good music is. There is a denon DP-790 in the classifieds. Is this a decent table the stats look good even though it is a direct drive.

Rega RP-1, $445 brand new and all set up with an Ortofon cartridge, from Audio Advisor. Great entry level table, without any worries about the quality/reliability and/or shipping issues of a used table. Learn to love vinyl, then eventually upgrade the cartridge. Have fun, and enjoy our wonderful hobby ! Happy Listening.