I don't really have any advice or a recommendation. But I've just recently gotten into vinyl and can share my experience.
For me it was a low (no) expense proposition due to a significant amount of hand-me-down items from my father. Including several hundred albums. The VPI HW-19 TT I'm using, I've seen listed used for around your budget. And I'm plenty happy with the Denon DD I have on my 2nd system, and you can definitely find one of those cheap.
I bought some Disc Doctor brushes, a Perfection steam cleaner, and set about cleaning records and listening. Some albums sound blissfully sweet, some sound good, and some are frustratingly bad. I would call it a much more varied experience than CD's.
However, I am really loving the routine. And not just the actual routine of playing the albums. I love waking up early Sunday mornings to take my wife out to breakfast and then hitting the record shops. There is just something about flipping through stack after stack of albums just to see what is there. Without fail, I bring home at least one album that is absolutely phenominal (along with one or two that I just want to toss in the bin) Considering I am getting several used albums for the cost of a CD, I'm pretty happy with the odds. And every weekend I'm getting better at judging the condition of used albums.
Another great thing. I find albums that have never been released on CD that I love; and I would have missed out on were it not for the TT. I also get a nice twitter in my heart when a childhood memory is sparked from listening to one of my dad's albums that I'd long ago forgotten about.
Here's the caveat. When it really comes down to it, I'm no audiophile. I just love listening to music; and as I've recently found, the search for more music to listen to.
For me it was a low (no) expense proposition due to a significant amount of hand-me-down items from my father. Including several hundred albums. The VPI HW-19 TT I'm using, I've seen listed used for around your budget. And I'm plenty happy with the Denon DD I have on my 2nd system, and you can definitely find one of those cheap.
I bought some Disc Doctor brushes, a Perfection steam cleaner, and set about cleaning records and listening. Some albums sound blissfully sweet, some sound good, and some are frustratingly bad. I would call it a much more varied experience than CD's.
However, I am really loving the routine. And not just the actual routine of playing the albums. I love waking up early Sunday mornings to take my wife out to breakfast and then hitting the record shops. There is just something about flipping through stack after stack of albums just to see what is there. Without fail, I bring home at least one album that is absolutely phenominal (along with one or two that I just want to toss in the bin) Considering I am getting several used albums for the cost of a CD, I'm pretty happy with the odds. And every weekend I'm getting better at judging the condition of used albums.
Another great thing. I find albums that have never been released on CD that I love; and I would have missed out on were it not for the TT. I also get a nice twitter in my heart when a childhood memory is sparked from listening to one of my dad's albums that I'd long ago forgotten about.
Here's the caveat. When it really comes down to it, I'm no audiophile. I just love listening to music; and as I've recently found, the search for more music to listen to.