Marc Phillips wrote:

[snip]

I'd avoid the Thoren TD-190. It was a big flop, due mostly to some very
negative reviews. Most places are just trying get rid of them at closeout
prices. You should be looking at Rega, Music Hall, or Pro-Ject.

Boon

As a brief testimonial, I got a Music Hall MMF-5 a couple of years ago
and it was clearly a big improvement over the cheapo Technics it
replaced. It was relatively inexpensive (about $500), came with a
reasonable cartridge, was not at all difficult to set up, and I've been
very happy with it. For what it's worth, the Music Halls are apparently
built in the same place as the Pro-Jects, and I understand they have
quite a bit in common. With the money you'd have left over, you could
easily get something that would be suitable for playing just the 78s,
which might not be a bad idea . . .