Clueless and Seeking advice on TT purchase

Hi Craig.

I think you might want to consider getting a Teres bearing, platter, and motor w/controller, and DIY'ing a base to your liking. Teres sells the items like this for DIY use. They originally came this way before Chris decided to make complete tables. It is fairly easy, and there are hundreds of others who have done this. And, it would really tie in to the DIY theme of your system.(And it would sound better than any of the other possibilities in that price range, IMO.)

You could put a standard or modded RB250 on it, and maybe a Denon DL103R, and have quite a package for the money.

Dear Clueless, Start reading Stereophile more, they are also clueless.

I second Twl's recommendation. If you can DIY a plinth this would be a great way to go. Search the recent threads here for two other guys that are doing this project now.

The core of any TT is the bearing, and the Teres bearing is well beyond anything else in this price range. You'd have to go to a high end Basis model to equal or better it.

The Teres DC motor is quieter and more speed stable than the AC motors on the other tables mentioned. VA has quite a few testimonials from owners of other TT's (including some recommended on this thread) who've achieved substantial performance improvements by changing to a Teres motor. Why not just start with the best?

The motor controller circuit is world class. Some TT's make you twist knobs or, even worse, fiddle the belt to fine tune speed. The Teres motor controller makes the platter speed self-stabilizing.

Even the least expensive Teres platter is more massive than others in this price range. That gives it greater resistance to feedback resonances and stylus drag.

Sorry to go on, but in your position anyone with DIY skills who's concerned about bang-for-the-buck should consider this solution.

Enjoy the tunes whatever you do!

A number of good turntables are mentioned in the previous posts. At the risk of redundancy, here are the "recommended turntables" ($1000-2000) from the Oct-Nov 2003 issue of The Absolute Sound:
1. Rega P25 (Editor's Best Buy)
2. Basis 1400 (with Rega RB300 arm) (also an Editor's Best Buy)
3. Roksan Radius 5
4. Thorens TD850
5. Linn Sondek LP12
6. VPI HW-19 Mk4

Based on my own listening experiences, I'd add the VPI Scout (arguably the best value of any of the turntables listed above) to the list.

I own a VPI Scout. I don't know how good the Scout is, but I feel the JMW-9 that comes with it is world class. Very rigidly coupled to the plinth, very fine bearing (if you can call it a bearing at all), and fine construction. In fact, I bet you can get very good sound with a decent table when you put in the JMW 9. VPI internally likes the 9 over 10.5 or 12.5 and I can "hear" why. Less (adjustment) is more (sound) really applies here.