Help me to choose turntable below 1600$.

Another vote for Sota from this very happy owner.  Here's something in that vein:  https://www.audiogon.com/listings/turntables-sota-sapphire-ii-2017-06-16-analog-60010-1510-barringto...  Freshly refurbished & one of the best out there at any price.  The price on this one is good enough that you can put something like this on it and stay close to your budget:  https://www.audiogon.com/listings/tonearms-clearaudio-unify-9-2017-06-14-analog-m33-5ba--2.  If you're patient, you might even be able to pick up a Graham 2.2 or other VTA-on-the-fly arm that will seriously out-perform a lot of much more expensive stuff when mounted on the Sapphire.

Good luck & happy listening!

Not sure what to think about the latest $4000 Technics TT, but the older 1200's, 1300's, 1400's, are nothing but junk. Pure crap in my estimation. Simply because I had owned this stuff years ago. Probably good enough for DJ's or pro users with tin ears. not for serious audiophiles....

I think we are off subject for the op, but I do believe that the modded Technics are better than the Pioneer, I've never opened a Pioneer, but I've been in many Technics.... As I mentioned earlier,  I have a Technics SP25 for sale and it uses SL1200 as its base.... When you mod these tables,  you can take a look at each piece of the table killing resonances, improving wiring & when re assembling,  aligning everything correctly and really bolting things down for solidity... So, yes a modded Technics is no doubt better than the Pioneer that is proven to have a few quirks.... However, I am very curious at what I might end up with if I dismantled the Pioneer and took a look at what could be done. The Pioneer may have a bearing issue that needs to be checked on every table,  but I've looked this table over and it is no slouch. Not sure that this helps at all, but.....

OP, the most expensive Rega table that you can afford is the correct answer. If you value correct full body sound. My favorite turntable at any price is the Michell Gyro SE however, with a Rega tonearm.

@mr_m

Not sure what to think about the latest $4000 Technics TT, but the older 1200’s, 1300’s, 1400’s, are nothing but junk. Pure crap in my estimation. Simply because I had owned this stuff years ago. Probably good enough for DJ’s or pro users with tin ears. not for serious audiophiles...

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They must be upgraded because it was mass production unit for affordable price. I think after fully rewiring (discovery wire) and with new feets (isonoe), with fluid damper for tonearm and with vintage MM cartridges (like the Technics 205c mk4) the SL1200/1210mk2 is not so bad. But in my opinion it’s better to invest to the SP10mk2 from the start (to pass on expensive tonearm upgrade and external power supply for SL1200/1210 mk2). The new one from Technics lose its charm for me because of the size and shape of the SL1200mk3D, and being superior in this design, i think, it would be much better if they would follow the SP10mk2 and SP10mk3 design instead of the most popular SL1200mk3D (IMO). It’s funny that audiophiles now should play with GAE for $4000, that looks exactly like the polished classic SL1200mk3D (always described by audiophiles like "nothing but junk").