best "entry level" audiophile TT?

thanks for the responses - quite helpful. I guess the price range is sub-1,000. I'm looking for solid quality, good sound - not sheer audio bliss. I, at least as of yet, mainly rely on other sources for music, and only have 40 records. I'm fairly new to audiophilia, and just bought my McIntosh MA6900 integrated, anticables / IC's, and vienna acoustic bach's - so I'm still recovering from the cost of all that while still looking for a TT.
And not to open up a new can of worms, but what /who / how much should I look for in terms of vibration isolation?

Tell me something psychic, have you ever even heard a $5K table? I have heard a SL1200 and it sound nothing like a $5K table. Doesn't even sound like $500 table.

No I haven't heard a $5K TT. I was born and raised in a little Caribbean island with only a few general stores and post offices. Not even TVs were sold. Everybody had little AM radios for listening to hurricane weather broadcasts.

Of course, the 1200 does not sound like a $500 table. You must have come from somewhere other than my little island. The 1200's technology to price ratio goes way above its price point. But then again, it's someone like Raoul the Mexican that gives you first world audiophiles a reality check regarding lowly moving magnets giving multi thousand dollar moving coils a run for their money. Money...ahhhh!

JohnnyB, e-mail me & I'll send ya pictures.

With psychic power and primal intensity,

The 1200 series is entry level in price, but the technology to price ratio is much higher thatn any of its competitors. The KAB mods take it to the $5K performance level with much less than that.

***
Psychicanimal (Threads | Answers)

04-18-07: Psychicanimal

Tell me something psychic, have you ever even heard a $5K table? I have heard a SL1200 and it sound nothing like a $5K table. Doesn't even sound like $500 table.

No I haven't heard a $5K TT.

***
Psychicanimal (Threads | Answers)

This is quite revealing. For months I have read claims of the Technics SL1200 modded by KAB performing at a level of tables costing thousands of dollars more, and I had assumed the author(s) had the listening experience to make the comparison. Now, this admission that you have never heard a $5k table. Readers of these threads take most comments at face value, and with the assumption that the author has first-hand knowledge of the subject.

I was seriously considering a purchase of a KAB Technics SL1200, but now I have to step back and reconsider how much of what I have read is hyperbole.

If you love the KAB SL1200, then it's reasonable to write about your experience with it, but please don't make other claims that have no experiential basis.

...now I have to step back and reconsider how much of what I have read is hyperbole.

I got the impression that Psychicanimal was being sarcastic about his isolated background.

Whatever the situation, fortunately, there are some reviews that compare KAB-modified Technics SL1200s with more expensive belt-drive rigs. Here's one from TNT-Audio where the reviewer compares a KAB-modified SL1200/Ortofon/Creek rig with a near twice-as-expensive Music Hall MMF-9/MH Maestro/Creek setup.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/technics_sl1200_2_e.html

Also, Ed Kobesky has written a lot about the SL 1200 and has had a wide array of turntables and cartridges, plus he reviews for Positive Feedback.

>>Raoul the Mexican that gives you first world audiophiles a reality check<<

Those are only his opinions.

Simply because he has more toys than most of us doesn't mean he's smarter than some of us.

However, the KAB table is a high value component.