Budget phono stage under $100, cheap but refined, does it exist?

Thank you all for your input. I see the OP has a solution. I and probably others appreciate his question and the responses it attracted. Great community of folks here!

Been following this thread because I recently upgraded HT system with a new AVR, and repurposed old AVR in combination with some spare B&W FPM5's and BR-player to create a separate 2-channel music area in our master bedroom. Problem is this AVR has no phono input, so looking for a phono amp. I have an older one from Parts Express - think it's one of the Pyle models, and although they claim 'no-noise', it is not. The TT I have is a very old Technics SL-B20 (p-mount, belt drive, not sure what cartridge), in good shape.

So thinking about the noisy phono amp, old turn table, old (possibly worn-out) cartridge, and the cost of good phono amp ($200'ish) and thinking it might be better to get a new turn table. I remember back in the day, 'direct drive' was the upgrade model in Technics' line.

So after a little time on Amazon and Parts Express, find a couple of interesting options at $300 in the Fluance RT-81 and Audio-Technica AT-LP12-USB. Both have built-in phono amp and come with AT95E stylus, the Fluance adds beautiful wood finish, while the A-T has USB and direct drive (in ugly old silver finish - but would match the B&Ws). Neither have P-mount (wish they did). So I'm thinking either of these might be good options for the extra $100 over the cost of phono amp alone. Also like the idea of simplifying (no separate phono amp) for the already over-populated collection of extra devices - bluetooth receiver (because AVR doesn't have BT built-in) and wireless bridge (because AVR only has wired Ethernet).

Rarely listen to records, but if it sounded better, might be nice to reminisce with the 150 LP collection of our youth. You remember the 'good old days' with, Columbia House and BMG? That's where most of these records came from.

Any recommendations on how best to get from where I am to a better TT system without going overboard? 

Mwatsme

I can really recommend a Teac TN-300 as a good budget TT cw built in phono as I bought one a few years back and still have it in my daughters system and she plays a lot of music on it!
It comes cw a cartridge AT95E and built in phono and usb if you ever wanted to digitize your record collection.

I upgraded with an Ortofon 2m red as it was laying around but with the AT is was no slouch.

You can pick them up on eBay for about $240 or so.

Just my thoughts.

The chassis costs more than $100 to make!

I would recommend the Schiit Mani as well. I had the Emotiva XPS-1 before getting the Mani and the Mani definitely has a wider soundstage, more separation and better dynamics overall. The Mani is a great preamp for the money.

some people have reported having issues with the Mani picking up RF, which is an issue I haven't run into. 

Upgrading the NAD PP2 with a good, regulated power supply and discrete op-amp will put you in a good place. The PP2 (cost about $100 used on fleabay) can be run stock until you raise the funds for the upgrades. You can probably do similar upgrades to Pro-Ject and Cambridge units, but ymmv.