Need advice on what to look for in a turntable - budget $6K to $10K

Garrard 301/401 or the newer 501 set up with two arms one 12" one 9 or 10" with arms lf your choosing and a high end plinth in the flavor that suites you tastes and you will live music all the more.

Very good questions, mm.

What you get in the better tables is a lower noise floor and a higher level of detail retrieval. Just about anything in your price range will sound very good indeed. To optimize requires some experience, which is rather fun on its own.

There are some subjective and some objective criteria. First, how good does the suspension have to be? My house is built on rock and my table is connected in direct line to the foundation, and there are no highways, rail lines, or other sources of vibration within miles. That means that a suspension is worthless to me - so I didn't pay for one.

Are you very keen on the exactly correct speed, for example, if you have perfect pitch? If so, then make sure that the motor controller has a speed adjustment.

Are you offended by a little quirkiness? For example, my turntable requires me to spin it by hand to start it. Doesn't bother me - I concentrate on the low noise and the saved dollars. Offends others.

Subjectively, what you must decide is the weighting of noise and precision. That is a matter of taste and a matter of experience.

That said, there is one major complication - set up. Few retailers seem to know how to set up a turntable, tonearm, and cartridge, and fewer still will bother. That complicates any comparisons you make.

My suggestion is to listen to a bunch of different systems, preferably amongst your friends. When you find a sound you like, you can take the knowledge to a trusted dealer - and if he's in the next state, the trip will be worth it.

As to brand, I like Nottingham Analogue's Dais. For a tonearm, I like the Trans-Fi air bearing, which is probably the best buy in audio for $1000. For cartridge, I like Koetsu.

One of the most musical combinations I've heard
featured the phono pre you just bought (JC3+)

That was a J.C. Michell Orbe SE with a modified Rega arm
and an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
That combo as I recall would be in the 6K-7K range.......

If you favor a mass loaded table, of course VPI could be a musical choice........stay away from dark sounding cartridges with VPI
Aries, Classic and HRX (They don't like Lyra Kleos)  One advantage of VPI is if you find you want to move to something else, you'll have a very wide audience for resale.....

In a suspended table, I just installed an Oracle Delphi MK VI 2nd gen
with Oracle/SME V arm  This combo lists for around 17K, but with 345 arm could probably be purchased in the 11K range......one of the most beautiful tables out there.....

A compelling choice if I was looking now would be the AMG Giro including arm listing @ 9900 retail.......probably 90 percent or more the way to the big AMG table.....I've heard the Giro at a show and it was incredibly musical.  I think with that table, the AMG cartridge would be a great fit....

Down to it, the table shouldn't really impart a signature......which leads to cartridge match/synergy as the final piece for a musical combination.

The Ortofon cartridge lineup, (Cadenza) sound very musical w/ VPI and I assume other mass loaded tables......the most magical presentation I've heard in my home was the veryy low output Transfiguration Proteus coupled with a world class step up transformer....  I also think the Transfiguration Axia sounds amazing......my closest dealer, reference analog had a VPI Avenger with both cartridges and we went back and forth on VPI 3D Ref arms and I think the Axia is an absolute bargain.....gave very little up to it's big brother.........