I need some turntable guidance

Why I'm looking for a TT?
I have an old Luxman with a cheap cart that I've had for 20 years and I have enjoyed it. It is far from perfect but I have some records and do enjoy some of what is possible with vinyl with my modest set up. I love the liveliness and absence of so much compression and the general musicality (thats probably not a word) of my old turntable.

Not long ago I was invited to hear a very high dollar system in a treated room and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I've never heard music sound even close to that good, in my life. It really blew me away. It was just incredible. I don't remember which turntable it was but the preamp and amp were Audio Research and the speakers were Rockports. I never knew sound like that was even possible. It was an incredible, exciting musical experience.

The guy who took me there invited me over to hear his system and while not up to the level of quality the first system had, was still, by far, the second best system I've ever heard. ( do factor in I don't get to experience many systems) His TT was a $20k VPI. amp and preamp were Macs. The speakers were PBN Audio, which he was going to sell, so I eventually bought them. 

So, in the last 20 years these are the 3 turntables that I can remember hearing. My Luxman which is fun and has its good points and the two mentioned above which caused my socks to roll up and down all night. They were magical evenings. 

@elizabeth very good advice. I agree and have followed this approach myself. I got back into this hobby a couple of years ago and needed a new turntable for my 300-400 albums. I bought a U-Turn Audio Orbit turntable with Ortofon 2m Blue cartridge. I enjoyed it. As I have indicated in a past post on another thread, listening to records is more than just the music. It IS the ritual that you layed out. This is what I did when I was younger and first got into this hobby. So it takes me back to my youth. It gets me involved in the music playback process. After verifying that I still loved records and playing them and caring for them, I sold my U-Turn Audio setup and got a VPI Prime Signature with Ortofon 2M Black and a couple of appropriate level phono preamps to switch between for fun. 

Ok Wemfan, you can use anything you like as long as you have a sturdy platform. You should be able to lean against it without making the turntable skip. For 10 to 15 I would get a SOTA Sapphire, put a Kuzma 4 point 9 on it with an Ortofon Windfeld Ti cartridge. I think that should run around 12-13 and you don't have to worry how sturdy your platform is:) 
You would have to spend really serious money to do better than that. You are right at the point of seriously diminishing returns.

Mike

A few thoughts, (spending not much at first).

a. I suggest what you heard in other setups, were not only 'great' speakers', but speakers properly matched to the listening space. That, for any speaker, is far more important than all the esoteric 'improvements' in the world, and most often less than ideally achieved. I would spend some time making sure you are getting the best out of your existing speaker location.

A test CD, a Test LP, and a decent Sound Meter are good tools to have forever. Get familiar with them before trying refinement. Do not go for perfection, just find what is happening and any acceptable location that improves things. Personally, I ALWAYS toe my speakers in, and tilt them back a bit, to avoid woofer reflection parallel to walls, floor, and ceiling.

b. nest improve your existing TT: Physical setup is far more important than anything else in ANY TT system.

practice setup skills with existing cartridge, then repeat setup with a new 'good' cartridge with a new stylus (your stylus is worn I suspect). You will use the new 'good' cartridge for a while on existing TT, then move it to your new TT, then in the future probably upgrade the cartridge, keeping the 'good' one.

You need to acquire these skills, for any TT, existing or future. Practice for eventual setup of a new cartridge. Acquire templates, stylus pressure gauge, transparent alignment block with horizontal and vertical reference lines/grid

Level TT; re-align cartridge in Tonearm Headshell, Arm level/parallel with zero tracking force and zero anti-skate; Arm height when floating parallel. Leave anti-skate zero when setting tracking force, then add a matching anti-skate force last.

Then listen with Test LP, especially left right balance which indicates both proper stylus/groove interaction and proper anti-skate to 'float' the stylus left/right in the groove.

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Now, when evaluating a new TT, concentrate on what makes you happy every time you glance at it, because, IMO, once a good cartridge is properly set up, improvements will be slight.

I didn't go thru this, but something useful might be in this thread

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/so-many-great-golden-era-dd-tables-out-there-what-do-you-recommend-fo?utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website