Great thread Slaw, your enthusiasm is contagious !
I have always loved the trough turntables. The best I have heard where the Rock reference and the Maplenoll Ariadne Signature.
I played mostly cd's the last 20 years and was dying to get back into vinyl a couple of years ago. I knew it had to be a trough tt, only one still in production was the Rock 7. I went to a dealer here in Denmark and heard a pretty bad demo. The Rock had a Rega arm with a budget cartridge, and the dealer sayd it sounded great, I did not agree. He was trying to sell me on an more expensive table, trying to push a Feickert, I ended up not buying anything. I then startet looking for a Rock Reference or a Maplenoll. Rock Reference don't come up for sale often and I found a Ariadne Signature first!
The trough makes such a big difference, great bass definition and depth. My table also has the sub platter under a 50 lb lead platter, I am going to order a Origin belt on your recommendation.
Keep up the postings, great inspiration!
Greetings from Denmark!