When will we ever hear turntables demoed fairly?

..that's what I suspected Stanwal....that 2 examples of the same turntable, arm, cartridge, on the same supporting table will sound different....then again....the same orchestra in 2 different halls will sound different.  There is no absolute....just enjoyment if you just let it happen.

So my final takeaway on my original question is that you can't achieve any real comparison that means anything objectively.So all claims about the superiority of a given piece of equipment must be taken with a grain of salt perhaps half a grain.As long as the industry and consumers are willing to make what seem plausible excuses about comparisons there will never be a objective reality about audio quality.Quite disturbing when you think about the money involved but that's just me.

I'll tell you one thing if you promise not to tell anyone. There seems to be an objective reality. People with equally excellent hearing will hear exactly the same things. They may and likely will have to a various degree different sound preferences. Most people with great hearing will never become audiophiles because they can't tolerate this garbage coming out of any speakers driven by any amps from any source. I know a few people like that, they appear to be able to hear things that I cannot, two of them are professional classical musicians.
As for choosing turntables, this would not really be a big problem for me, even less so if I were prepared to spend $10k or so on the table/arm. I would easily accept a great sound even if it is not the very best possible at this level. In my case it would be even easier because I only consider British turntables. If cost were almost no object I would consider everything starting with those $10k for table/arm and would go from there.

I would take away another message, Bruce.

You can get good sound, but it takes diligence. Beware.

Lots of retailers can show you good sound. Some can show you the difference between a cheap system, a good system, and a great system. Small differences may be elusive, and some retailers may try to promote the highly merchandized / high margin units, but with some diligence you can get mighty good sound. Perhaps not the ultimate - that's the work of decades of trial and error.

brucegel

You are pretty close to it. That is one big reason you see so much stuff being sold here on anon. The reviews are great, the ads look cool, gear has no distortion according to the measurements. Should sound perfect. But wait, the bass is flabby and activates the walls, the MC cartridge sounds bright forward and thin, the amp sounds grainy,

I usually start with a speaker that I like and try to build on that. Not that speaker with the shiny cones with cool looking folds in them and the highest grade parts in the crossover but rather the ones that have less crossover with larger midrange drivers that add realism to male vocals and cellos etc. 

Just rambling here.