I need some turntable guidance

Dear @wemfan : This SME TT/tonearm is an excellent option for you:

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9h9h3-sme-20-2-with-sme-v-tonearm-turntables


or a choice of today top of the line very well regarded Technics:

https://www.technics.com/us/products/reference-class/direct-drive-turntable-system-sl-1000R.html

In any case you need a cartridge with higher output level than the Ortofon MC named here and my recomendation is to go with Lyra line:

http://lyraanalog.com/etna.html

I used two different Lyra models with the SME tonearm and is very good match as will be the Technics.

Cartridges as the top Ortofon, Lyra, My Sonic Labs and the like are looking for a first rate phono stage for that cartridge could shows at its best, Your C2300 could be a weak link about but it's what you own and what you like.

All in analog is important but the source is of main importance and the cartridge is that source ( other than the LP. ), it's whom generates the analog signal: it's the transducer.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Sorry Mike but way too oversimplified and generalized!

It might help your cause if you cease denigrating anybody and everything that does not fit into your perfect little world viewpoint.
It has bugger all to with " being cool so it must be cool and sound good"
I listen with my ears not my eyes ( spec sheets , it’s an idler so it just HAS to rumble etc).
Like I said, there is room for all types of TT in this hobby and I for one will not be found criticising anybody’s choice of replay if they are happy with it.

Anyway sorry to get off topic as none of this side discourse is helping the OP whatsoever so.....
Enough said.

@mijostyn  You're projecting! Not everyone thinks like that, nor are they so easily fooled, either by others or themselves. Anyhow, this is a false dilemma. It does not boil down to either a $4,000 Garrard or a $50,000 Tech Das AF lll. 

@mijostyn You owned two LP12’s..and tried everything to get them to sound better??? Like what? I strongly suspect the issue you had was like so many other naysayers, who really shouldn’t own a table that needs to be set up CORRECTLY like the Linn--and that is...you never had it set up properly in the first place...and then you tried yourself to adjust it...Yikes!

BTW, how long ago did you ’own’ the two tables? Too bad you have an opinion now that isn’t what many other  current Linn adherents have...including myself. BUT, it is an opinion that is far too common...and since your experience in the distant past is not what you liked...then you lump all of your future posts about the table into this experience. Instead, perhaps make a little effort to go and hear a CORRECTLY set up new model with some music that you know...just a thought!!!

No noromance you are fooling yourself. When I evaluate anything having to do with audio I am careful to place the evaluation within the context of my physiologic and psychological weaknesses. You obviously have no idea were your weakness are which means I have no interest in your opinion. You refuse to admit that the idler wheel drive has all but disappeared. High end manufacturers favor belt drive for a reason. 
Uberwaltz, everyone can enjoy any stuff they like for any number of reasons. Wonderful. Everyone is entitled. I am not denigrating you I am simply stating a simple fact that idler wheel tables rumble more so than belt drive. Apparently that is not an issue for you and the 401 has other qualities that you like. Great. But turntables do not have drive. The music may have drive. Good turntables just spin at a constant speed and hopefully sound like nothing. 
Nothing I said was oversimplified or generalized. If you really want to dig into specifics just download a book on neurology and look up the section on hearing. You do not listen with your your ears. Your ears are totally dumb microphones. They send signals down cranial nerves #8 (vestibulocochlear nerve) into the cerebellopontine angle where it then breaks into several pathways. Depending on what the sound is it will be interpreted by specific areas of the brain. Speech is interpreted in Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe (if you are right handed). If Wernicke's area is damaged by a stroke the person will be able to talk fine but will not understand a thing. That is called a receptive aphasia. When doing brain mapping when the person is listening to speech Wernicke's area lights up. Interestingly when listening to music the whole brain lights up! Your brain is doing the listening and your intellect is interpreting what your brain is hearing. What you brain tells you is not only based on physiology but decades of training, learning and built in instincts. What your intellect hears can be modified by all of that. Try listening to Indian music. Most of us will wrinkle up our nose and say YUK. But Indian folks love it because their brains were trained to like it ours were not. God knows what John Coltrane was hearing. Our brains are very tricky devices far beyond the understanding of our intellects. 
This is why you get so many varied opinions about what something sounded like. Then there is ego. Which is often on display here.

Mike