I need some turntable guidance

Maybe you could have opened with that information?
Lol.

A lot more there for members here to now go to town.

Wemfan, I need to know a little more about your situation. Is your equipment stand (cabinet) on a wood platform floor or on a concrete slab? This will determine if you can use any turntable (concrete slab) or just suspended turntables (wood floor)

It would be helpful to know what you have but regardless, my recommendation would be to get an AMG Giro with Turbo tonearm. It will not disappoint.

You should be able to get a demo under $10,000 including tax.

Another option is the AMG 12, Airforce 5 or a Basis turntable. Those might not fit in your non-budget

I know where a supposed good deal is on a demo turntable for $10k. One of my questions is should I spend that kind of money or say are the differences marginal or great from a $5k to spending $10k? What do you get when you go up in price? Or what do you lose going down? Where is the sweet spot in higher end turntables?

it is really depends on a turntable, not just price tag, you can find a lot of mediocre turntable for insane price, you can also find cheap plastic belt drive turntables also for insane price for this technology.

My advice was to keep a brand new coreless Direct Drive from Technics, made in Japan. You can actually save a lot if you will stick to Technics new line of TTs. I’m pretty sure you can find a demo of Technics, so you can compare their top SP-10R to their cheaper but still nice SL1200GR. And if you want something in the middle there is an SL1200G (or GAE).

So many reviews online. With Technics you don’t have to spend a lot, but the quality will be superior to anything at the same price. And you can spend the rest on cartridge.

Technics is the answer to your question.

P.S. I don’t think you want to deal with vintage DD from the 70’s/80’s, but some of them are better than new Technics, you just need a knowledge to choose one. I am a big fan of vintage Direct Drive turntables and i have many. I don’t like belt drive technology at all.

One other option to consider is a used table that is fairly new so if its not for you your not eating the initial depreciation. Most good tables will hold their value once a few years old. 

I'm with chakster on this one though, for new, hard to beet the technics tables at the cost and they tend to hold their value. next IMO your into VPI, Sota, Rega and Project. there are others at more money but do you need a fancy looking table or one that works great oh that's the technics.