Clearaudio Emotion CMB or JA Michell TecnoDec?

The CMB bearing is amazing and the Clearaudio cart makes that a really good deal. The TecnoDec is also an excellent table.

unfortunately both tables are not really upgradeable other than arms... and you could put a Technoarm on the Tecnodec, but you would be better off upgrading to Gyro..

If you want to upgrade the Clearaudio you need to move up to another Clearaudio table which can be upgraded.

Both tables you have chosen are excellent tables in their own right and are not low end tables, but they have already been maximized with tweaks. Buy one of them and then use the money to buy records or a good record cleaner...

I had the Emotion and replaced it with a Marantz TT-15S1 (made by Clearaudio). The Marantz is basically an upgraded Emotion --consider it an Emotion 2.0.

The CMB option is not available on the Marantz, but it is still better than the CMB Emotion (to my ears) because of the thicker plinth, platter, and better feet, not to mention better tonearm (direct-wire ebony wood) and ebony Virtuoso MM cartridge.

Basically, I would get the Marantz if I were you.

A little retraction on the idea that the Marantz cannot be upgraded with CMB. Since Clearaudio offers a 30mm version of the CMB (for the Solution model), theoretically, the CMB should work also with the Marantz, but at $750, you have to decide for yourself if you want to try it.

Or instead you move up to the Clearaudio Performance Table combo..once again spend as much as you can on the initial table because upgrades are more expensive. Otherwise a Champion Series Clearaudio Table lets you do all sorts of upgrades.