Pioneer PL-530

You can get some amazing deals on used turntables that are going to be in your price range. I picked up a Pioneer PL-530... my current player... for $200. It needed some slight work but it's an $800 turntable man. For you, I'd look at a used Fluance 82 for $200 or 83 for $300 used... new they are about $100 more.

I think it is a good pairing. While the AT is not my favorite cart, that would fall to the Nagaoka MP-200. However the AT cart sounds better on the Pioneer compared to the table it was on, a Technics SL-1900. Both of these greatly exceed your budget, but are outstanding performers that would pair well with the PL-530.

You would need a preamp and then a bluetooth transmitter connected to the preamp (although I’m not a fan of using BT with vinyl). I had a Rega Planar 3, which was a great table, paired with a Sumiko blue point special which I used as a work turntable for background music for my work setup (I worked at an e-waste warehouse and I finally brought the Rega home when the warehouse closed for good in 2020. As the Rega was an ewaste find, it was practically free), until I traded it for my Pioneer PL-530 which was serving me well until it recently began having mechanical issues. Had i not needed a swappable headshell, I would have kept the Rega (it also had a glass platter).

I have a Pioneer PL-530 and it is an incredibly nice fully automatic turntable. PL-570 is a Quartz version... but both are in the $750-$1K range. I honestly don't think that there is ANY performance hit in the Auto range if you get a good one. Dual, Pioneer, and Thorens are the best of the line, closely followed by Marantz and Sansui later on... but they are all awesome if you ask me.