Best TT under $1k

After owning a few different tables, I bought a very clean, used sl1200 mk2 from a buddy for $250. 

None of my previous tables were very high end, but some were decent. Rega P2, other somewhat vintage tables. I always seemed to work hard and worried that alignment was off, and was forever fooling with protractors.

After getting the 1200, I bought an overhang gauge, installed a $100 AT cartridge, and have been playing lps (without stress) for years. It’s nice that I can also adjust VTA on the fly. 

The 1200 was the perfect match for me. Different strokes, of course.

Kind regards-
gary

@bpoletti 

With all due respect, I question your poor opinion of Rega turntables. No matter what website, you never lose an opportunity to dump on Regas. Clearly you’ve had a bad experience with Regas but how many Regas have you actually owned? Your derogatory posts would lead one to indicate you’re an expert on the subject, that you’ve owned or heard every table they make. I’d love to know what Regas you’ve owned and what you felt was wrong with them, perhaps a P1, P3, P6, RP8, RP10? None of the above?

I have owned two Regas, the RP 25 and the RP6. I thought both were excellent tables, easy to set up and dependable with excellent sound. In fact, I sold a $10,000  Raven One table because I found the sound no better than my RP6.
Regas would not be one of the best selling and well reviewed tables if users were consistently dissatisfied. Would love to hear your experience ( and that of your entire family and friends ) about the many Regas you’ve owned.

+1 for The Rega RP-6. Killer table at the used prices. Usually around 1k.

This Rega RP 6 is a great deal even for new asking price.

@elibow - You asked....

I have had a particularly bad experience with a couple of rega tables.  Cheap parts, poor qc, substandard performance.  Silk purse / sow's ear.  The ONLY redeeming quality I found was that it was fairly easy to set up because it couldn't be adjusted to improve performance.  Was even GIVEN one that I took back to the dealer. 

All were easily bettered by both my AR-ES and VPI HW-19/III.  And the VPI was using a Linn Basik LVX with a defective counterweight buffer / damper.    

I was told that to make a rega perform, it was necessary to add a lot of tweaks, options and modifications. So what's the point of even getting a rega table if it doesn't sound good anyway out of the box and requires a lot of mods.

So in my experienced opinion, rega tables are not worth the box used to pack them.

But YMMV..  YRMV.