So many new TT's at lower price, still better off buying used?

Brand new gets you Dealer support and a warranty, plus you know the table's history.  Some people place value on having piece of mind.   

turntables take time to learn, and being extremely mechanical, and electrical/motor components are involved...this almost triples the level of lore required to make a truly functional one.

Lots of dilettante mediocre stuff out there, is what it comes down to.

Most of it sounds quite good but could sound so much better if the mechanical lore was there from the beginning and also being correctly applied.

That’s the real pile one has to dig through. Tons of mediocrity and very little perfection. that is the part which takes time to learn.

And everyone learns at a different pace in different directions, so consensus will be weak. Very weak.

Thus, far too many mediocre turntables being lauded as excellent. For most of us, they are close enough as they exceed the best of digital in ways that are important to us.

If you read between the lines, I’m saying slow it down, as it’s gonna be a journey, and cannot be anything less than a journey, if you seek best for the money.

Turntables appear deceptively simple. ’Appear’ being the key part.

1500 gets you a darn good new turntable in the pro-ject the classic sb superpack with all the fixins....I own it and love it...probably my last major tt purchase. The real walnut is beautiful. It's a poor man's linn sondek....

Oh there's not all that much to them. Take one apart, plug the number off the motor into a search engine. Just be sitting down when you do it. I was a little miffed to find my $2500 table running on a motor selling on-line for well under $100. And its like that for every table out there, all the big names, Basis, VPI, you name it. 

When I got done being mad at being ripped off I calmed down and did the next logical thing and started building my own. Which I highly recommend. Next best thing, buy the best table you can afford, new or used, put the best Origin Live arm you can afford on it, and buy a nice cartridge with whatever you have left. You can always upgrade the cartridge later. Unlike the table and arm the cartridge is gonna wear out.