I have a very early SP-10 (mark I)- not the desired motor, heavy platter or speed control) that I have owned since 1973 and had Bill Thalmann restore it. I also have a Kuzma XL with Airline arm, which was the big daddy of the line originally. Not a fair comparison in the sense that my SP-10 is not in the league of the mk II, let alone the mk iii or the new model, but I will tell you I’ve had that table for what? almost 50 years and it still sounds great. Ditto the big Kuzma, which is a commitment, partly because it requires more measures to isolate effectively given its mass. I can tell you Franc Kuzma is a very good guy. I’ve had overnight turnaround on some stuff from Slovenia! Crazy (that was when I lived in NY so it was an easier flight than to Austin, TX where I live now). And if you are in the States, Scot Markwell is a pleasure to deal with and actually knows what he is talking about.
You should try and audition the tables. I think the sound of a turntable is hard to discern without a controlled comparison involving no other variables. Pretty tough to do but possible if you are in a place that is audio-heavy. Austin is a backwater compared to NY, but NY isn’t what it was during the ’80s for hi-fi. Depending on where you have to travel to hear these, it might be worth a round trip ticket, I dunno. (Oh, flying sucks right now, sorry, but I'd travel to hear something if I knew in advance that the necessary arrangements were made to set up a meaningful comparison).
