$2000 turntable system

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.

Brings up the question of vinyl reissues. Are those generally mastered from analog tape or from digital archives? Seems it would defeat the purpose if there was digital inserted in the production chain somewhere.

90%+ of  the albums I have purchased are either original analog recordings or reissues remastered from original analog tapes.  About a third of these are AAA (all analog) which is what has contributed to the relatively high cost for me.  If It is clear that the original mastering was digital AND the cd mastering is no better or worse than the mastering for vinyl, I opt for the cd .  Still do not have setup for streaming, but expect to incorporate hi-rez playback in the near future.  Still prefer vinyl ( I grew up with it in the 60's and 70's) .

Yogiboy wrote:

This is nice at $1495 for table.
Cartridge $350.
The Vincent phono looks like a winner at $299
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/gem-dandy-polytable/

Not only did the GEM Polytable fare well in the Absolute Sound review, it got Class B status in the Stereophile review by Michael Fremer (review not available onlien yet). This is by a considerable margin the curent lowest price Stereophile Class B recommended turntable.

Another candidate for cartridge for the Polytable is the Shelter 201 (used in the Absolute Sound review). Although it lists for $310 stateside, you can get it from Japanese dealers on Amazon and eBay for around $167. At that price it’s a stone cold bargain (I have one and love it).

A low price, high (relative) performance alternative for the Vincent phono stage would be the Schiit Mani for $129.

Another alternative: If you go with the Polytable at $1495 plus a Japan-sourced Shelter 201, you’re at $1657. You’d be only $161 over your $2K budget to upgrade to the Vincent 2-chassis, tube-powered PHO-700 for $499.95.

I have a tubed phono stage. They can make quite a difference.