Ultimate Turntable search...OMA K5 or ?

@mikelavigne said: 

"these things happen in the USA when there are established relationships between the dealer and customer. i have experienced it multiple times. not every customer is serious minded enough to earn that sort of support. those that are deal/price focused have to find their own source of performance/value information. dealers are not bending over backward for them. on-line buying tends to reduce service. figuring that part out is one issue that has to be addressed. price negotiation is a different animal in different markets.

the high end use to be about relationships. still is in some places."

Mike- the thing that puzzles me--and I said as much on another forum-- is that the online sales model is pretty much fixed price. Yeah, it cuts out the middle man so costs might be lower, but a lot more is lost in the process.

And in almost no case where I had a long term relationship with a dealer did I pay retail- trades were taken, loaners were provided, home trial --within reason was available. Hell, when I worked with Bill Parish, I only went to his facility shortly before I left NY. He made house calls, brought over gear to let me hear, had manufacturers come over to listen, trial stuff on my system, etc. In the long run, I never found that I overpaid for all that; to the contrary, I got a level of service that made decisions, and spending far easier.

Yeah, there were some lousy dealers, but when you find one that can really deliver, treasure them. Not so easy to find today. (Though, admittedly, I’m not hanging out in hi-fi stores anymore). I do get to see Albert occasionally, though. :)

@whart To your point about good dealers and bad dealers, there are surprisingly a lot more bad dealers than one would expect. I have had a couple of recent experiences with bad dealers. One was so rude to me that i walked out of their establishment within less than ten minutes! Why these folks think that they have to cop an attitude about the customer the minute he/she walks in the door is beyond me?? Needless to say, i bought an expensive DAC from a dealer that does care about customer service.

Plus one on the long term value of a great dealer relationship!  While I am sure one can often find a "lower" price online or by setting up a bidding war,  you end up losing out on the benefits of working with someone who knows your system and will offer you advice based on their years of experience. I also suspect as one moves into the realm of the very high end levels of gear addressed in this thread, this kind of resource becomes even more important. 

I am currently evaluating a $4k plus piece of signal grounding equipment that was loaned to me for the past month by the kind of dealer that inspires this kind of trust. They are out there and hopefully this forum is a good place for us to share these kinds of experiences. 

I note that you want to move away from belt drive but in my decades of experience I found that there were a number of instances when my preferred technologies of the time were outshone by a better sounding piece of gear of a different approach. A member has suggested the Acoustical Systems ASTELLAR which I would echo given my experience with the APOLYT which I wrote up:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/acoustical-systems-apolyt-turntable-the-revelation

My opinion has not changed and so great was the impression it made on me that I have had to order an APOLYT and hope to have it within the next few months. Here are some specs:

https://www.arche-headshell.de/the-apolyt/

An ancillary benefit of the APOLYT is that its integrated stand can isolate amplification in addition to the turntable. Whatever turntable you decide on I would not order without listening first. Good luck in your quest!

No issues with a Arche Headshell at this end, but as a more affordable entrance to this design type, the out of production Orsonic Headshells are very attractive in certain models.