First, the 265 all-wood model is sold out because it was a limited production. There is another production run coming out soon. I recommended the 255 because of the price thing too. It leaves enough money left in your budget to afford a really good arm and cartridge.
If you can afford the 265 and get the tonearm and cartridge too, that would be great, but it would put you over your stated budget by a thousand bucks.
If you want to see the coolest of the cool, check out this link to the new Teres model that is not yet released. It will be around $6k, without arm or cartridge. Chris at Teres claims that this is a quantum leap ahead of all previous Teres models, so it should be a real stunner. It has a 4" thick Cocobolo platter with lead-shot loading, and the entire TT weighs in at about 130 pounds.
http://www.teresaudio.com/300-med.jpg
Pretty cool, huh?
If you can afford the 265 and get the tonearm and cartridge too, that would be great, but it would put you over your stated budget by a thousand bucks.
If you want to see the coolest of the cool, check out this link to the new Teres model that is not yet released. It will be around $6k, without arm or cartridge. Chris at Teres claims that this is a quantum leap ahead of all previous Teres models, so it should be a real stunner. It has a 4" thick Cocobolo platter with lead-shot loading, and the entire TT weighs in at about 130 pounds.
http://www.teresaudio.com/300-med.jpg
Pretty cool, huh?