So, yes, you CAN afford a THC...or a Conn 6M Lady...probably a late King S20.....a Yanagisawa.....a Martin Committee....a Yamaha 62.....an Eastman....a whole bunch of established pro models.
Likely none of them would be a "oh, man I shouldn't have done that !" purchase.
All would have some serious Street Cred. You won't get beat up in the sax playground sporting one of those for sure....
Some will likely suit better than others.
Do you wanna spend all that budget ?
Alternate game plan:
A good, established base model which could be as simple as even a Conn Shooting Star or Bundy, both available for $500 in great shape...or for another $150 go to a Yamaha 23, the ubiquitous default suggestion for a student horn.... any of which would be good choices which you can get a good 2-5 years out of before deciding to upgrade.
Or for another $50 move into an intermediate model from the get go with one of Yama's competitors, a Jupiter or Buffet.
Stop at $500.
Or stop at $700.
Some would argue given your context, the $500 or $700 horn will give you all you need or even want to get you to the point of "I am digging this, gonna get more serious".
If you insist, chuck another $500 at it and go with a pro model Jupiter, a Yamaha intermediate model like a 475 or 52. For that you could even get a late model 6M or a sweet-spot Buescher Aristocrat or King Zephyr...if vintage floats your boat more than modern.
So there are a lot of pause points for consideration.
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I said that facetiously to lighten things and add a little humour. 
