Direct drive, cart and phono for under $750. Possible?

@stereo5  Pioneer was the fir table I though of!

The Pioneer DD turntable is $700.00 new.  You can buy a cheap mm cartridge for $50.00 and up, also new.

Excellent suggestions!

The Empires are sonically better - and look way cooler!

And only one SL1200!

Better yet for the same cost would be an Empire belt-drive. I have four different models in my TT collection!

+1 dtrandall! Can't go wrong with a used SL1200 in good shape plus a cheap phono stage!

maybe something like this?

used technics SL series turntable $400-$450
Audio Technica ATVM95ML microline cartridge $170.
phono preamp - schiit mani $130, ifi zen phono $150, hagerman bugle 3 $180

Sure, simple really. Sell him one of your setups for $750.

Why such a low budget ?
You can demo him your Technics GR, he could buy mk7 for $900 and later add some nice phono stage and cartridge. Or maybe SL1500c (goes with pre-installed entry level Ortofon MM cart, and with built-in MM phono stage).

Something more exotic:
I could recommend Technics SL-10 if he will be able to find refurbished sample for about $750. There must be P-Mount cartridge (Stanton, Pickering, Audio-Technica... made some nice P-Mount carts). There is a built-in phono preamp. Read more here.

 with all your knowledge / questions that you have asked over the years, you should know if this can be done or not.