The Technics table suggested above is superb. The tone arm is not great, no where near the quality of the table, motor, etc. But that can be changed out later on as an upgrade if you want the highest level of performance. Combine the Technics SL-1200MKII on up with a high grade arm and high performance cartridge, and it will easily rival any audiophile table at any price in terms of actual performance objectively. But, you can still get great performance with the stock arm. This table will last a life time, easily, and every part of it screams high quality and engineering. This table is not made cheap like the so called entry level audiophile tables in the same price range. This table is made of thick cast aluminum, and has a massive lower rubber dampening block to make it inert. The platter is cast aluminum and has a lower and upper thick rubber mat to make it inert. The motor and speed controller are top notch, with incredible speed stability. The so called entry level audiophile tables in this price range are made usually from a piece of MDF with no mechanisms to make it inert, and use cheap quality motors with very poor speed stability in comparison to the Technics unit. Now, the entry level audiophile tables have one single advantage: they usually have a better behaving arm(lower resonance).
As for the cartridge, I generally recommend against Grado carts. They often have poor tracking and inner groove distortion problems(the inner grooves of record will play back with a noticeable distorted sound) with even the slightest imperfection in set up. The cheapest really high grade cartridge is the Audio Techhnica AT440ML, which is around $80 USD. It has superb tracking, no inner groove distortion problems and is basicly neutral until the high mid range. The treble band starts to increase in level and by 10kHz or so, you have about a 2dB rise in treble. This can be counteracted with a shelving filter if you have such filter available on any of your hardware. If you want an even more neutral sounding cartridge, the Denon DL-110 has a very neutral response, superb tracking, no inner groove distortion issues, and it's deviation from flat is that in the upper treble, it has a slight roll off, which actually helps most recordings to sound more realistic/natural. It's $140 USD, and you really can't get a much better cartridge, perceptually, even if you spend 10x the amount.
If the price range above is too high for the table, I recommend used. You can get some great 80's era Technics tables made similarly to the SL-1200 for $100 or under in superb condition on eBay. Ask me about specific models that are built to a similar standard if interested.
-Chris
