Please help me with a basic turntable

I have no experience with the TD-158, but I am the original owner of a TD-166MkII, which I bought in 1984 as insurance against turntables becoming extinct (LOL!!!). A quarter-century and one belt-change later, it is going strong. It is pretty quiet, speed is stable, and the original Thorens arm tracks well. The anti-skate is a little tough to get right, and cartridge mounting is made more difficult by the headshell design, which favors appearance over convenience. There is, IIRC, a similar model with an auto-lift at the end of the record. It is otherwise identical to the 166-MkII, AFAIK. These 'tables were West German made and very high quality for the time. The carbon-fiber tone arms, with detatchable wands were well regarded, although many chose to upgrade the arm.

If you buy a used Thorens and intend to use the original arm, make sure you get the setup tools Thorens included with the 'table, and the instruction manual.

That particular Thorens is junk, avoid it. If you absolutely need automatic shutoff, the Thorens TD-190 is pretty good but it's around $600. The Dual CS-455 is around the same price, I believe, and has the same basic tonearm and drive system. However, if you can sacrifice convenience, just about any manual turntable in that price range will offer superior sonics.

The Rega P1 is a nice unit but you'd be smarter to stretch your budget to the P2, which is noticeably better and also has a much greater upgrade path.

A Technics SL-1200Mk2 can be had for around $500 at discount and is still an excellent unit that is built like a tank and will last forever.

The entry-level Music Hall and Pro-Ject units are decent as well. And yes, any of these units, save the Thorens TD-158, is a nice upgrade.