Which turntable should I buy?

Dear Nick: I totally agree with Ww129: the Micro Seiki RX 5000 is a great TT and beats easily the Teres and other " big names ".
You have to think serious about " the source " for your analog system: the phono cartridge, that's where all begin.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Ww129 and Raul,

Nick is looking to spend about $2,500 or so, not $25,000.

Dear Artar1: Where do you get that number ( 25,000.00 )?
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul

It isn't just a question of turntable. There is a cartridge and a Phono preamp or phono section within your preamp and an arm as well. These will make a bigger difference in performance than the table alone. First of all, make sure the cartridge you buy is well matched to the phono preamp. If you get a MC cartridge with .25mlv of output and try to match it to a modest phono preamp with only 45db of gain, you won't get enough output. What kind of sound do you like? Robust and punchy? Buy a Clear Audio cartridge. Smooth and airy? Buy a Benz-Micro. If you have a modestly priced phono preamp, it will never do justice to a great table set-up. I haven't even mentioned the difficulties of matching an arm to the table. My suggestion is to buy an integrated set-up like a Music Hall MM7 or 9 which will be less than what you want to spend, BUT! The sum total of its superbly matched parts - Table, arm, and cartridge ( which will have fairly good output and will better match modestly priced preamps ) will give you much better sound than a big mismatch.

Elinor, thanks for your reply. I think I may have the preamp section taken care of with my newish Supratek Chenin (see System). I certainly appreciate the sentiment about buying a more modest turntable with zero setup or internal matching worries but I think I'll just compromise between a turnkey approach and a a DIY solution.

I guess you could say I prefer "robust and punchy" but then again, I like "smooth and airy" music to sound like that if that's the way it's supposed to be. Also, it depends on my mood. After work in the evenings I definitely prefer the latter while at the weekends I prefer something harder (and not just the booze ;). My Supratek has broken in nicely and I couldn't be happier with it's line stage so far. Totally out of this world it is, and you could say it is robust, punchy, airy and smooth, all at the same time!

My plan is to listen to the Spacedeck and the Scoutmaster in the New Year and make my choice. I am lucky, I live in the Bay Area where there are dealers of both close by.

Cheers!