recommendations for TT + arm + cart, around $3.5k

Great info, Drrsutliff and Newbee - very cool.

I was going to hold off on the phono preamp, as eventually I will upgrade my Nova (as a pre) to , and figured I'd wait a bit as whatever that might be, could have a decent phono preamp. I could just look for a better phono preamp now, and see how that works out, and then think about the next step.

I've been reading about the Classic, and my local hifi guy SWOONS over it! I'm not sure about the aesthetics though - I could take it or leave it. Is there a strong reason to prefer the Classic to the Scouts, gun-to-the-head (I know - gotta hear them, but I mean in terms of construction, features that I may care about later when I get more involved with the TT and learn about proper setups, etc)?

Cheers!

Justin

Clearaudio Performance SE and Benz Glider should solve the upgrade bug for awhile.

I WOULD get the VPI classic and a $700 to 1K $$ cart.
Carts to go with:
Benz Glider, Benz ACE, Ortofon 2M black, Dynavector20X Lyra Dorian
The VPI is a great table.
I just bought a Rega P5 with a Benz Glider,.. I would have gotten the VPI classic, but they are backordered nearly everywhere.
Agree just wait on phono pre part til' TT/cart settled

You also may want to take a look at Nottingham. Right now you can get a 294 or Hyperspace for under $3K. Add a cartridge and you have a very nice system. Down the line you can add a different tonearm (generally considered to be the weakest part of the Nottingham) like SME, Graham, Moersch etc.. and you've kicked things up a notch to an extremely nice system. I've seen some real good prices on Nottinghams lately. I think some of this is due Nottingham being between US distributors. Nott's don't have a lot of "flash" or "buzz". They are just very solidly engineered tables that should last a long time.

OK - lots for me to think about here! A couple of suggestions on the Classic, a couple for the Nottinghams, plus some cart suggestions. That's a good start for me.

Thank you, everyone!