Help me pick a turntable set up

Hi,
you will need a decent phono stage to start with, so that leaves you with 1500$-1700$ for a table/arm/cartridge.
My suggestion would be to go for MM cartridge (100-200$) and benefit from a better turntable.
Plenty to choose: Rega, Clearaudio, , Funkfirm, Edwards Audio, Project.... 

This is what I have presently in use: Pioneer PLX1000 with a Denon103R mc cartridge ($700 + $300 = $1K). Going into a Denon SUT and RGR 4 preamp ($400 combo bought used). Excellent SQ - musically satisfying!

@lawaspen you are basically doing the same thing I am. I have narrowed my search down to Marantz TT-15S1 with Clearaudio Virtuoso Cart, Rega P3 or P6 with Exact cart, Clearaudio Concept, Music Hall 7.3 with Ortofon Bronze. 

My my personal opinion is that the cart makes the biggest difference if the tables are all similar. So my advice to you is find a shop locally that can let you listen to as many combinations as possible. Last week I listened to the Marantz, Rega P3 (Elys cart), and the Clearaudio Concept. Marantz performed the best by a lot. Probably because the Virtuoso cart is $1000 retail.

Others that folks on this board have mentioned are Mofi, SOTA, and the Technics DD tables.

good luck!

I suggest that you consider versatility and ease of set-up. A well set up front end in your price range will out-perform a poorly set up SOTA.

A turntable is nothing but a device to turn the vinyl steadily. A tonearm is nothing but a device to hold the cartridge in the optimal position.

But how this is achieved is the rub. Every bit of noise in the turntable matters. Every tonearm adjustment should be available, easy, and stable. At your budget, perhaps you should compromise on easy.

The phono stage is nothing but a low voltage amplifier with 3 filters. Every bit of distortion at this stage is magnified, and can make records noisy - what you think is surface noise may be phono stage distortion. Ralph Karstens talks about this in great detail.

IMO, each of these elements matter more than the cartridge - what’s more, they don’t wear out like cartridges do.

If you are uncomfortable with setting up a turntable, read some books, or get a dealer to help. Another reason to spend everywhere but on the cartridge - it’s hard to break a turntable, tonearm, or phono stage, but all too easy to break a cartridge.

Good luck!

bignamehere mentioned some good options to look at in that price range.  I'd also take a look at the MoFi Ultradeck.  I heard one recently and was impressed.

I have the Clearaudio Emotion which is very similar to the Marantz and it's a great turntable for the money.  I owned the Concept and thought it sounded great, but it didn't work in my system.  I have springy floors and couldn't wall mount it.  Very sensitive to footfalls.  I have a Music Hall 7.1 and that may be my best turntable.  I currently have it setup with an old Shure V15 MKIV cart with a Jico SAS stylus, neither of which are very expensive.  Sounds great!