Dear @pani: Now that you have several opinions on your main subject thread: which was your choice?Dear Raul, the fact that this question occured to me even though I am a layman when it comes to technicalities of analog playback is an indication that I value that ultimate coherence of sound over the last word in transparency. Some of the most coherent and musically correct sounding decks I have heard, all have tonearms mounted on the plinth even though they have all the engineering prowess to build a seperate tonearm pillar. The simplicity of an integrated design brings about a simplicity in reproducing the music too IMO. I only wanted to confirm it by this thread. I am happy that there are many more who think like me including an audio designer like Atmasphere. If I was allowed to try the seperate tonearm pillar + plinth I would have happily taken the trial and come to a conclusion but when I am buying blind I will go by the proven practice of getting a single wide plinth with tonearm mounted on it.
Thanks everyone for this lively discussion. Please continue if you would like to.