Icom 746, kenwood ts480hx used. New, Icom 7200 or Icom 718, Yaseu FT450, Alinco SR8T or SR9T. All of these should be close to the price range. Some may be more. The Icom 7200 is a good starter radio and can be had for about $600. They have a $200 instant savings at AES. Look here for more radios as well. The 2 Alinco radios or the Icom 718 are all within your price range. Check out different places before you just order from one place as they may have them cheaper elsewhere. If you look around you might find a kenwood radio that fits your bill as well. Just make sure that if you plan on using it on 11m that you have the Mars/cap mod done to open the transmit when you order the radio as to not void the warranty. This is only if you plan to use it on 11m that is. Again, look around before you buy. And research the radio! JMHO.
I have been told HF Rigs sound like crap on 11m?
A very few do, but also realize that when an HF transceivers is rated at 100 watts overall max power, that translates into 30-50 watts max PEP on AM with a 5-10 watt carrier max for it to sound clean.
I'm not sure where you're getting this info from, but that hasn't necessarily been my experience. Yes, there are 100 watt rigs that won't produce 100 watt PEP - if I remember correctly, the 746 Pro I owned was like that. However, there are plenty of rigs that do produce full output on AM. For AM, the general rule of thumb is that the carrier should be set to 1/4 the rig's PEP for proper modulation.
Anyway, back to the original question, for $500 I'd probably look for a used rig - see if you can find a deal on an Icom 706mkiig
the 706 has been out of production more than 9 years now....the IC-706 MKII G was the last run...all other versions are even older...I like the 706...are parts readily available for this lovely rig