Buying a new TT today

snilf,

Ok, do not keep us in suspense. Which Denon is that?

I thought the OP had a set expendature of $2k. So, not what Mike said.

The Ovation is a great deck in a small neat package. German engineering, an ingenious magnetic anti-skate mechanism, DC/adjustable speed control...wow! Should be a keeper and be a show off of upgraded cartridges for years.

I hope you read this before comitting to what ever you buy . First the Ortofon red even though a good cartridge for its price is rather rough in its sound .

 But what ever cartridge you buy the ultimate sound you are able to get out of it depends on the tonearm and its support or turntable . Best sound quality for cartridges are in the moving coil camp which normally are low compliance so if you go with moving coil you would need a at least a medium mass tonearm and a high mass tonearm as best option .

Moving magnets are high compliance so a low mass arm would be best or a true medium mass as the ones that come with project turntables .

So whatever turntable you buy check the tonearm and its quality and mass . Rega makes excellent and very musically capable turntables and its tonearms are great . Clearaudio and VPI also design very capable turntables with very good tonearms . 

You can't go wrong wirh either of these options . Your Ortofon 2m red will sound better with any of them . If you go with Rega go from the 3 upwards , VPI scout upwards or Clearaudio concept upwards . All are in your price range with left over cash for a better cartridge ( but not much ) . Project also is a option in its higher range turntable but if it were me I'll go with the ones I mentioned . Take care .

So many reasonable opinions and suggestions here. But I’m going to be a contrarian. I owned a ProJect Debut Carbon DC for a few months, and...sorry, despite advice from well-informed friends, despite all the rave reviews, I HATED it. First of all, it made a mechanical hum that was infuriating, especially once I found out why. The internet will tell you, because many people have had this problem. The motor is isolated from the plinth and the platter by a rubber assembly that lets it "float"--except that the tension from the drive belt bends the capstan, in its floating mount, toward the platter, which apparently throws the speed off. So, to compensate for this, ProJect anchored the motor to the plinth with three screws and rubber washers. Of course, that "solution" simply negates the vibration isolation of the original design! I tried loosening the screws, removing them entirely, using different washers...I only got different hum frequencies and intensities.

Reading this i think people who recommend such belt drive turntables are masochists or really know nothing about turntables.

There are excellent vintage Direct Drive turntables on the market that works for 50 years without any single problem (Denon DP-80 is one of them, really the best value on the market today).

We have new direct drive from Technics that will work for another 50 years without service.

Belt Drive is inferior technology and most of the relatively cheap Belt Drive turntables are toys, some others are overpriced.

I’ve been posting about it before but i want to remind that Neumann Lathe machine operates with Direct Drive Technics SP02 motor. Every record pressing production starts from this Neumann with Technics motor. 

And the new motor from Technics now is the best you can buy. They gave their customers so many options to buy different models with amazing Direct Drive motor, starts from $1700 for SL1200GR and going higher and better in every next model.

People still talking about some cheap belt drives wrapped in some fancy looking materials to mess around with all that masochists rituals instead of buying a proper turntable that work forever and cost only $1700 (minimum).

But what ever cartridge you buy the ultimate sound you are able to get out of it depends on the tonearm and its support or turntable . Best sound quality for cartridges are in the moving coil camp which normally are low compliance so if you go with moving coil you would need a at least a medium mass tonearm and a high mass tonearm as best option .

Not every Moving Coil cartridge is low compliance, Dynavector KARAT series are not low in compliance. Most of the modern MC are mid compliance. There are even high compliance MC cartridges from the past like the Ortofon MC2000.

Also not every MM or MI are high compliance, they are mid compliance, some modern like Nagaoka are even low compliance. Vintage high compliance cartridges from the 70s are still the best and bests many modern MC.  

So mid mass tonearm and mid compliance cartridges is mainly what we have today on the market.