Doesn't matter were Well Tempered are made. The design is just too simple. Bill Firebaugh built one out of junk materials at a show and it still worked better than most. If I'm not mistaken that's where the golf ball tone arm paddle came from.
The problem with most tables, especially the ones on your short list, are their metal bearings in the platter and the tone arm. They all have runout which leads to chatter and the tone arms are under dampened. Rega, Marantz, Sapphire, VPI, really? The Sota is the only competition for any Well Tempered but its bottom end is weak by comparison.
I have a new $4000 Benz Ruby Z mounted on a butt old square motor WT Classic with a bent wand that I bought as junk for $200 that I was going to fix and gift it to a friend. It blew my Aries away. The Well Tempered arm is the only arm I know of that can track ALL the tonearm modulation tracks on the Shure Test Record. My (good looking $5K) VPI Aries was sold and I bought my friend a cordless drill instead.
The Clearaudio Performance with a ceramic magnetic bearing at $2800 plus a cartridge would be the only other low cost high performance table that I would recommend.
If your serious about getting the best sound per dollar from your LP's this drab looking $1K Classic and a Benz Micro Silver is within your budget.
ttp://app.audiogon.com/listings/well-tempered-classic
If looks are your priority disregard this response.
The problem with most tables, especially the ones on your short list, are their metal bearings in the platter and the tone arm. They all have runout which leads to chatter and the tone arms are under dampened. Rega, Marantz, Sapphire, VPI, really? The Sota is the only competition for any Well Tempered but its bottom end is weak by comparison.
I have a new $4000 Benz Ruby Z mounted on a butt old square motor WT Classic with a bent wand that I bought as junk for $200 that I was going to fix and gift it to a friend. It blew my Aries away. The Well Tempered arm is the only arm I know of that can track ALL the tonearm modulation tracks on the Shure Test Record. My (good looking $5K) VPI Aries was sold and I bought my friend a cordless drill instead.
The Clearaudio Performance with a ceramic magnetic bearing at $2800 plus a cartridge would be the only other low cost high performance table that I would recommend.
If your serious about getting the best sound per dollar from your LP's this drab looking $1K Classic and a Benz Micro Silver is within your budget.
ttp://app.audiogon.com/listings/well-tempered-classic
If looks are your priority disregard this response.