Marsillians is correct, until you buy a turntable desinged for sound quality, sound quality is pretty much irrelivant.
Around $400 you can start to look at entry level high-end turntables. Try this site
Audio Advisor for a look at whats availabe for decent entry level turntables.
I don't know what the fascination is with this technics thing (personally its hard for me to call it a "turntable") but its certainly not based on sound quality.
To make a comparison, budweiser swill (personally its hard from me to call it "beer") in comparsion to real beers is probably the equivalent of the technics to good sound quality turntables. Yet millions buy budweiser. Go figure.