Is a GREAT turntable under $2000 possible???

I looked through all of the responses, and was surprised to see that there was no mention of Bang and Olufsen’s best turntables, and the cartridges that Soundsmiths makes under license from B&O for use with them. These were the most elegantly engineered products of their time, with all components designed to work in concert to provide the optimum result. I sold many of their first great design, the 4000 series tangential tracking turntables, back in the 70s. In A/B listening tests, I was always able to get my coworkers to pick the B&O tables over far more expensive (at the time) products from Thorens, Luxman, Transcriptor, etc., with the best cartridges available at that time.  As a lover and collector of these turntables, I’ve made LP to CD transcriptions that are superior to the store-bought CDs of the albums, with virtually silent noise floors, and, when listening directly to the LPs, a breathtaking (on well engineered acoustic instrument recordings) spatiality that I don’t hear from other turntables. I’d be curious to hear from others who’ve heard a properly set up Beogram 8000, or the even better Beogram 8002.  These were B&O’s only direct-drive turntables, and used a unique, and cog-free method of direct drive. Any other B&O lovers out there?

The wife’s mad cuz I just bought a Technics 1210 GR. I blamed it on this thread, she will giving y’all a talking to!

Audio forums are like AA meeting in a bar .

Update!!!

Technics SL 1200 GR TT is up and spinning. A buddy stopped by and helped me balance and get the MoFi Master Tracker cart mounted. Lehmann Black Cube SE II Phono Preamp adjusted as well. Going to let things burn in for a month, then we'll look at making some adjustments if necessary. 

How's it sound? Wow! My first turntable listening experience was a good one. Pink Floyd's Dark Side was on rotation as well as some Stevie Ray Vaughn and Fleetwood Mac among others. Much more detail than the Tidal streaming HiFi and Cd's for the most part. 

I enjoy the experience of taking the time to put on the album and just let it play through. Very nice experience all around. 

That's about it for now. Thanks again for the suggestions. I hit a home run on round 1.

Brent 

Brent,
Great report! Vinyl is a different world, with lots of twists and turns. But it is FUN, especially finding great deals on records here and there. And then there is that sound. I hope you continue to enjoy the ride.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming, consisting mainly of audiophiles continuing to give you sound advice on which table you should buy weeks after you've made your choice.

Happy listening!