Vinyl is a world to its own. You can study sound reproduction for 10 hours every day for the rest of your life and not know anything about it when you die. Theres tons of turn tables, all with difference sound signatures, and then theres tones of tone arms, all with different signatures, and then theres tons of cartidges, all with different sounds, etc etc.
All that aside, look to spend about $500 on a decent turn table. $500 is a common price point.
I recommend the Technics SL-1200. It is the quintessential "turn table". Its been around forever, is rock solid, and one of the most popular and iconic turn tables of all time. Its cheap, Its built like a tank, it will last forever if you take care of it, and it can be upgraded to a bonefied hi-fi turntable with the right tone arm and cartridge. Most of all, you're not going to beat a Technics with a good cartridge for under $1500. Its the little turn table that could.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SL-1200