Can a $3K table be among the best out there?

Spiritofmusic, I'm happy you're happy with your TT. That's all that really matters. That said just because something is pricier does not mean it's better. This does not automatically make the cheaper table among the best though. It just means that some TT's are over priced for the performance they offer.

I have not heard the Trans Fi so can not comment on it's performance. Have you heard the tables you mentioned? How about in your own system? If not how can you be sure your TT is competitive?

I had a VPI Classic 1 in my system and know it's short comings. I can confidently say it is not among the best. Not to say it's bad it just falls short in a few areas. I've also heard the Amadeus at a dealer directly compared to the VPI Classic that I bought. The Amadeus was pleasing to the ear and I did like it a bit better than the Classic at the time but the Amadeus had a Dynavector 17D3 and the Classic had a 20XL. I own both those carts and I much prefer the 17D3.

I happen to agree with Lewm on the Amadeus arm. There is no way to be precise with the alignment on that arm because of it's design. This results in less clarity in sound than is possible with other arms. It does make it easier to setup though.

The Amadeus and Townshend Rock 7 are both excellent tables. I have given my comparison of their sound on a thread at Audio Circle, and the short of it is that I came to agree with the comparison given in Greene's reviews in The Absolute Sound.

MSRP of $3k will get you a lot of table, and what you prefer will likely come down to personal preference. The Classic and the recently introduced Avid table are others I would look at around these price points.

This is still a price point at which desginers will need to make trade-offs and compromises. I like the naked look of the Townshend, which was likely a cost-cutting measure (and I am fine in general with cost-cutting that might primarily be cosmetic in nature; my Avid phono pre is certainly nothing much to look at). The Amadeus' lack of suspension and use of MDF for the plinth are where that design saved money, it seems.

So I don't think these tables are necessarily among the best, but they are damn good and likely many (like myself) will feel an upgrade is unnecessary.

Vinyl; can be pricy, and in a nutshell, the more you spend the better it gets. Not always the case with digital.

Lets work this through, a $3000 TT, a comperable arm would be @ $1000 - 1500, a comperable cartridge would be @$1000-1500, a comperable phono stage would be about $2000. So the whole vinyl system would be in the range of $7000-9000. (then you need a record cleaning machine)

That's not cheese whiz and I would expect it would sound very good indeed!

And even "cheese whiz" is not the best cheese out there.

A $3K table is among the "best" in the same sense that a Honda Civic is among the "best" cars.