I recommend the Rega Planar 1 turntable, which in the US sells for under $500. The Pro-ject turntables are a good choice too.

The NAD amplifier is a good choice.

I strongly recommend that you choose some speakers other than Klipsch, which to my ears are the worst of the worst in sound quality.

I suggest that you look at Wharfedale, Elac, PSB, Monitor Audio or Cambridge speakers, among others.

Look at the past review articles in this website for speakers that suit your budget and sound good. You may notice that Klipsch speakers are seldom reviewed; there are good reasons for this; they don't like to do negative reviews.

alcuhur wrote:

Hi,
At 2019.01 could you recommend the best turntables options under 500$ right now? to start into the audiophile fantastic world. For the speakers I think I will go for the Klipsh RP600M or 51.
And amplifier The NAD C 316BEE.
I was going to buy the Fluance RT 81 turntable but unfortunately can't buy in Europe.
Thanks.
Alberto from Italy.

I guess that it is possible that there are one or two Klipsch speakers that are not as bad as most of them are.

If you like them, that is what matters.

alcuhur wrote:

I came into the Klipsch after seen a couple of reviews by Steve Guttenberg who talks wonderful things about those ones. He is a collaborator of this website too. Even there is a video it starts: "I was blown away!" haha (about the RP600M)
But anyway I take very much into consideration your advices.
Thank you very much.

I have them and they are amazing. These are not your typical Klipsch speaker. The new reference primiere are very good and sound excellent.

I'd recommend any of the Direct Drive tables here: https://www.audio-technica.com/cgi-bin/product_search/turntables/turntables.pl?lang=eng

There are two things that are an absolute requirement for me: Direct drive and removable headshell. There are other things that go without saying, of course (anti-skate, adjustable tonearm, etc.) but those are standard with anything in your price range.

Direct drive is maintenance free, high torque, dead on accurate and any decent one is dead quiet. If you've ever tried to replace a cartridge or swap out cartridge without a removable headshell you'll know why that one is important. For me, having a non-removable headshell is like having a car with non-removable wheels and you have to replace the tires with the wheels on the car. It's an amazing hassle.

Even the one "high end" tonearm that I own is the removable headshell version. I bought multiple headshells for it (it's a custom style) so I could swap out cartridges when necessary.

I've been dealing with vinyl since I sold hi-fi in the 70's. I had to mount a lot of cartridges on non-removable headshells. It's a headache that is not worth it.