When your dealing with acoustics in that level I would say go with the name. I know it sounds wrong but really you wont find great tone around there so its best to go with the big boys who back up their products with a good warrantee, good customer service and better likely hood for quality control. I personally have a Takamine myself and I love it (granted its a bit more money). Ovations are a good choice at that price range. I would also recommend looking at Yamaha's... I know it sounds crazy but I got this one for my Sister a few years back for about 350 and its one of the most talked about acoustics among all of my friends (guitar/music majors). I don't think they make that particular model anymore, and I'm not even sure what it is at the moment but I'm sure a lot of them are similar to it. Also don't be so quick to get electric and cutaway, if you can manage to get one without either or just one you'll have a nicer guitar (in most cases). Epiphones make pretty decent lower end guitars as well.

Thanks for your advice Mckey. I'm starting to realise how poor the quality of sound is in this price range as I've just bought the crafter TC035 off the internet but am disapointed with the sound so I'm gonna try and get a refund and go to a guitar shop. I might have to reluctantly shift my budget upwards slightly!

Its worth it in the long run. Look at the bottom line Taylors, they're really nice, very dry acoustic sound. They're not electric but you'll likely find in time that most electrics sound horrible plugged in so mic'ing is usually the better alternative. There's another guitar that I would HIGHLY recommend if your going to be doing a lot of live performance, the Gretsch g100 has an amazing sound when plugged in. I think that guitar is a hidden jewel.

Cort make guitars for other companies like Ibanez. The build quality is usually very good. They are made in Korea as are many other brands(Ovation, Takamine). It's worth a look. Sometimes you have to get past the name and just play it. If it sounds good, plays good, looks good, it probably is good.

I agree that electrics sound horrible plugged in. However, I find if you blend a little bit of the signal from the pickup with a mic you can get some good results so it would come in handy for me.
I had a look at some Corts actually and thought they look quite good. I'm going to try a couple Indie guitars tomorrow. Anyone own one of these?

i'm probably gonna get killed for this, but if you want to record a really nice acoustic sound without any noise, especially in a noisy environment, you should check the line6 variax 300 (about 250£). it's a modelling guitar with piezo pickups which emulates up to 25 different guitars (like tele, strat, lp...), including three 6-string and two 12-string acoustic guitars.
I bought the variax 700 a few months ago and i love it!

i'm sure it's nothing for a purist acoustic guitarist, but if you're looking for a good, easy-to-record guitar with many sound-options you should really check it out.

just my thoughts, now shoot me if you like! :cry:

Well the variax sounds like a good hassle free option for recording. I want something I can sit and strum out a nice organic tune on when Im not recording though. I bought the Indie 'Tree of life' the other day and I'm very happy with it. They are £350 rrp but got mine second hand for £230. Would definately recommend. It looks beautiful with a fancy design up the neck and plays and sounds really nice. :D

Does it have to be electro acoustic, or just plain acoustic?

If its just plain old acoustic I would have a look at a few washburn's. I bought two recently and they have been FANTASTIC. The j12s i managed to get for 180 off ebay (new) and its lovely for the price.
I got a j28scedl too, but that was a bit more pricey :P