The Ovation is a fine turntable. Its suspension is similar to the Debut's and shares a lot of the Debut's performance. For about a yr, a friend had his Ovation located on top of his subwoofer. Absolutely no sonic problems resulted, which is an amazing achievement. That suspension benefits sonic performance with superb small and large scale dynamics that you might miss moving to a different turntable technology.
Still if you owned that piece for 17 yrs I can understand thinking about a change. Things to consider: As mentioned by other posters, you will have to spend a lot to better the Ovation. Going to a different 'table lacking the Basis suspension might require use of an isolation device of some type not required with the Basis. Would installing a new arm and or cartridge on the Ovation provide the changes/improvements you are seeking? Would upgrading another component in your system contribute greater sonic improvements than replacing the Ovation? Check out the Basis review by Robert Harley in TAS that describes the benefits of using unique options for Basis turntables such as their Vector tonearm, cable isolation system, super belt, and power supply. Possibly such devices are available for your Ovation and would provide the changes/benefits you are seeking.
For further info, I 2nd that you contact Basis. My experience over the years with Basis is their advice relative to the benefits of upgrades, accessories, etc. will be on the conservative side. I loved my Ovation and only sought to upgrade as I got a bug to acquire a turntable that would be my last ever turntable acquisition. Inquiring about moving up to a Debut, A.J. told me not to bother as the Ovation achieved 95% of the Debut's performance. I went ahead anyways. Nada to the 95%. As I recall, it was more 80 to 85% of the Debut's performance with the improvements being across the board. This was the base Debut. The vacuum Debut would provide considerably more sonic performance than the base model.
