"What Hi Fi? Sound and Vision" magazine out of UK offers a monthly feature where they rank 1,400 products by one to five stars. They cover turntables and will give you good insights into your house sound by brand and model. They awarded Clearaudio and Rega their products of the year for 2008. England presently leads the vinyl revival as we know it and you will find nice information around a wide variety of English and German manufacturers.
www.stereomojo.com just did a nice review of the Music Hall 9.1; and the new Rega 3 has been getting universely great press: the Rega 3-24 is a wonderful entry point to get your feet wet. It will deliver years of trouble-free wear. You certainly can play in $1k range and get great performance per dollar. Gene Rubin Audio is an excellent retailer around all things English.
Dynavector and Denon make great entry level cartridges. I especially like the modified Denon 103 by Zu Audio--handles a wide variety of genres well.
www.stereomojo.com just did a nice review of the Music Hall 9.1; and the new Rega 3 has been getting universely great press: the Rega 3-24 is a wonderful entry point to get your feet wet. It will deliver years of trouble-free wear. You certainly can play in $1k range and get great performance per dollar. Gene Rubin Audio is an excellent retailer around all things English.
Dynavector and Denon make great entry level cartridges. I especially like the modified Denon 103 by Zu Audio--handles a wide variety of genres well.