Basis Turntables: Worth it or Ripoff?

Basis tables may be expensive, but, they are certainly not ripoffs.  The precision in their machining is impressive.  You will not see any visible wobble or eccentricity or up and down movement in the platter--their machining is absolutely perfect.  For their suspended tables, the suspension holds its setting for a very long lime.

The only regular maintenance you need to be concerned with is occasionally replacing the belt.  The belt is an ultra precision ground thin flat belt.  This belt performs very well at isolating the platter from vibration, but, because of its thinness, it does need to be replaced once in a while.  The first time I replaced the belt, I heard a bigger improvement in sound than when I purchased Basis' quite pricey motor control unit--the belt is that important.  I own a Basis Debut with the vacuum clamp feature; I like the table a lot.

@larryi, every 250 hours the belt should be replaced. That is usually around two years. What happens over time is the belt gets polished from the spindle rubbing on start up and stopping. Traction becomes irregular and wow and flutter increases. When I replaced the belt on my old Sota wow and flutter went from 1.4% back down to 0.5%.

A friend of mine has a black Debut without vacuum. It is still running great and is a very attractive unit. AJ and David Fletcher of Sota and Sumiko fame were friends. AJ took David's design and spiffed it up. If you remove the cover of a Sota you will see a rough version of the Debut. AJ also borrowed the vacuum design from Sota. David probably did not care as his company was really not in the ultra high end market. He cared more about value. The concept of a suspended table goes back to the AR XA. The LP12 comes next.  LP12 owners complained about the the LP12's sensitivity. I'm not sure but I think David owned one.
Just looking at it made it skip but, it was the best sounding turntable in it's day. David attacked that problem with the Sapphire creating the first reasonably stable suspended turntable at a very reasonable price. AJ being the perfectionist that he was took the design to the extreme. I live ten miles away from the Basis factory and cam close to buying one on several occasions. AJ loved having guests visit the factory. He loved audio. RIP

I met AJ twice and he was such a nice, soft-spoken gentleman.  You could also tell how passionate he was about getting the best out of analogue gear.

I know it is time for me to get a new belt.  I will be ordering one shortly. 

I like the Sota tables too.  They represent very good value. 
 

@larryi, for all intents and purposes my Sota is a Basis Debut with a wood cover on it. Great minds think alike:-)

Entry level Basis is better than top of line Rega