getting into vinyl

"I’ve been looking at some used Music Hall MFM and Ikura turntables in the 500 range over kill for 1st TT?"

Shame on you. A system can never sound too good.

What ever you decide to go with, make sure you post first. Vinyl is not difficult, but you need to be aware of certain things. The phono cart needs to be compatible with the phono preamp. Same thing for the phono pre and line stage, and a few other factors as well. Just make sure you have someone that knows analog look at what you plan to do first. It's easy to make mistakes with you are new. 

Looks like I'll need a phono pre and a turntable any suggestions on a pre?

So your going down the rabbit hole, huh?

First thing to is to realize that a TT is as much a precision machine as it is an electronic component. This being said, $500 is not overkill for your first TT - its really just the starting point if you want to get a decent modern, new deck. You have to pay for precision.

The TT’s you mentioned, along with entry level units from Pro-ject and Rega are a good place to begin. They are all simple manuals, belt driven and come pre-equipped with MM cartridges. Also consider the new U-Turn Orbit that is built in the USA and can be custom built from their website. A fully loaded model will come in around your $500 budget. If you don't have a phono stage yet, the U-Turn Pluto is a great phono preamp.

I would stay away from the myriad of cheap TT’s, all being built by a Chinese company called Hanpin, and marketed under the names of Ion, Gemini, Stanton, Pioneer, Reloop and even Audio Techinca.  And stay away from any TT with a built-in phono stage - these are usually very cheap, noisy and designed as a plug and play solution.

And last as the above poster points out, it would be good to know someone already familiar with vinyl to help guide you. If not, take your time and learn as much as you can before you buy anything.

One last word...there will be many recommendations to buy vintage, mainly from the 70’s. The biggest reason being the extreme quality of these machines back in the day. And they are right but keep in mind that all these TT’s are pushing 40 years old and will still require some degree of repair or at the very least, a thorough cleaning of their internals. That means opening the unit up. If comfortable doing this, great - there are bargains to be had. If your not and must take it to the shop, you have exceeded its value, so stick with new. Also, the vinyl resurgence is driving up the cost of these vintage TT’s too.

Good luck on the journey - a properly set up analog front end can sound amazing.

paraneer+1
Buy a new turntable.This looks like a nice inexpensive phono preamp!
https://www.musicdirect.com/phono-preamps/pro-ject-phono-box-mmmc-phono-preamp