$2000 turntable system

3 votes for VPI HW-19 & Jelco SA-750D,
I see a used VPI for $975 and new Jelco for $485.
About the same price as a Scout Jr.
Does swapping in a tone arm require any savvy?

If you can find a predrilled VPI HW-19 arm-board for a Jelco, Audioquest, Profile, it's pretty easy to swap out.  If you find a blank arm-board you kinda need to know/understand how to drill and mount an arm.

Actually, if you are looking at the HW-19 here on Audiogon, that Audioquest PT9 arm is the same arm as the Jelco, so you needn’t change out that arm. Excellent arm by the way!

However that table is a HW-19 JUNIOR so it doesn’t have the same top plate as the MKIII or MKIV. They use an acrylic/stainless steel sandwich which is MUCH heavier and denser than the MDF top plate of the Junior. Also the MKIII and MKIV have a removable arm-board where the Junior is a one piece plate.

The nice thing about the HW-19 is that is fully upgradable.  You can change out the top plate, the armboard, the platter, the motor, the feet, the suspension, so it really easy to get a top notch table for a pretty decent price.

I was a VPI dealer for many years and have setup well over 100 of these tables and still currently have and use 3 different HW-19 tables.  IMHO, still one of the best tables out there.

FWIW (from a newbie who jumped into vinyl last year) I would evaluate the budget decision in light of the cost of putting together a vinyl collection.  While I have read many threads about buying minty used vinyl for $2-$3 each, my experience has been different and much more expensive - averaging closer to $14-$15 per album given the number of new reissues (along with used) I have purchased.  If you already have a great album collection, no need to consider this issue.  But I have spent well over $7 grand in the last year to put my 500+ album collection together.  

I ended up with a very gently used Music Hall MMF 9.1, a Dynavector 10x5 cartridge and VPI interconnect  for a total of $900.  My Marantz PM-11s3 has a very nice phono stage so saved some money there.

Good luck and have fun.

Appears the HW-19 listed has a Audioquest P9 arm that is the same as the Jelco. Sent a message to the listing.