$500 budget

[kefrank]

Assuming you already have speakers and an amp/receiver that does not have a dedicated phono input, then at a bare minimum you need:
-- Turntable with cartridge installed
-- Phono Pre-amp
-- 1 RCA audio cable from pre-amp to amp/receiver (turntables in this price range should already have RCA + ground interconnects to run to the pre-amp)

On a budget of $500, I'd probably recommend:
Project Debut III Turntable - $349
Music Hall PA1.2 Phono Pre-amp - $150
(with tax and shipping, you'd go slightly over your budget, but no one counts that right? )

Also highly-recommended (and relatively inexpensive) are:
-- Record Brush (I use the Mobile Fidelity Record Brush found here)
-- Stylus Cleaner (a few options here also)