Buying a new TT today

Mike Lavigne is right the Rega pro package is a good choice if you have the budget.I fell in love with vynil, my beloved music hall tt 5 series is acting up its 20 yrs old, I retired it...                           I notice the SME products are state of the art , I called acoustic sounds , spoke to NAte , He installed the ML Hana...for me..it’s not cheap , but you will have a tt of your dream if you are not Mike L...Iam extremely happy.   

Only problem if you buy expensive tt, you will need a very good phono pre, sometimes.I paired this SME to Icon ps3 phono pre...

I think the upgrade game is more something Linn does. Their upgrades are numerous to the point that the guy who sold me my Rega told me a guy spent $25K on an LP12.

Question for Chakster (Mike Lavigne - feel free to chime in although you seem to be focused on the highest end options, or any other cartridge experts):  I've heard of a couple of the brands you mentioned above in your vast cartridge inventory, and seem to be a cartridge analyst for Absolute Sound, but I was wondering, of the cartridges currently commercially available and in production, what cartridge would you recommend for a Rega P8 (other than Rega's 2 MC's) from a value standpoint? I like a detailed sound that is transparent and tight without anything being added, which gets all that is on the record to come out. Not bassy or shrill or tinny sounding, just natural. I currently have a Van den hul One Special with probably 2250-2500 hours on it that I am pleased with (it's rated 25-3500) more lately with the virus, and in a year or less, I will either service it at the factory in Sweden (and limp along for a month or so while it being brought to new specs) for around $5-$600 or look for a replacement. I've heard good things about Hana, and of course there are the usual suspects of Koetsu, Lyra, Clear Audio, Ortofon, Dynavector, etc. I have a Sutherland Insight phono stage with the Linear Power Supply that has 4-5 adjustable load settings from 100 to 47K ohms.Thanks for your advice.

I'm not certain why someone would conclude that I am "tweaking" my Rega Planar 10 by taking off the feet and using Rollerblock Jr + in their place.   Using Rollerblock Jr + (or some other brand isolation/vibration control device) is rather common in high-end systems.  I could easily have left the OEM santoprene feet in place and used the Rollerblock Jr + devices elsewhere under the plinth, achieving the same effect.  However, the Planar 10 has a very unique plinth and using the Rollerblock Jr + in place of the santoprene feet was a near perfect fit and also looked very nice.  As well, adding a Symposium, Segue ISO is another benefit for isolation and vibration control.  All hi-fi components, from source units to phono stage, to preamp, to power amp, and even with AC conditioners, will benefit by using such products to support them.  There is good reason those kind of products are on the market.  This is part of hi-fi.  I am not modifying my Rega at all.  

@aj523

To answer your question, no, I am not going to change the AC power cable from the PSU.  I have it connected to an Audioquest Niagara 1200 and, therefore, am delivering a nice clean AC current to the PSU.

In a few months from now I am getting a Symposium Acoustics Foundation Ultra rack.  Along with that I am upgrading to the new Niagara 3000 and all of my main components AC will connect to that, including the Rega.  I am maintaining my Niagara 1200 for AC connections just for the theater processor and multi-channel amp, in a separate cabinet.  I have a fairly serious main 2-channel audio system and for home theater I then simply switch on the processor and multi-channel amp.  My main preamp (BAT preamp and power amp) can receive the R/L signal from the processor and pass it through to the BAT amp.  Voila, I then have a home theater setup operating in full Dolby Atmos, 9.1.  It's really quite nice!