Turntable upgrade recommendations: SME vs AMG vs Technics vs other

@lewm I'm afraid not. My favorite chinese restaurant is 30 miles south of here in Taxacusetts. But don't fret tonight we are having Duck Confit and tomorrow is prime roast beef that I aged for 45 days. REALLY, right in my own fridge. Go to umaidry.com. These are very special vacuum bags that control the humidity within the bag and they work GREAT! I am on my third piece of meat now. The only down side is you have to have a vacuum packer with at least a 10" seal bar. The biggest bag which is for brisket requires 16 inches however you can kitty corner the bags and probably get away with a 10" bar which is pretty common.  

@drbond , The 4 point 9 may be the best value in a high performance arm out there. As for the Kuzma tables it depends on which one you are talking about. The Ref 2 and M are right up there with the SMEs. I really like the M but it is pricey. The Sota Cosmos is a better value and it has some advantages over the M, a magnetic thrust bearing and vacuum clamping to name two. It's overall build quality is not as good as the M but it has it where it counts and it is almost 1/2 the price.

I really don’t know how anyone can evaluate such a co-dependent item as a tonearm out of the context of one’s own system or at least a system with which one is intimately familiar. But hey…

Listening to Eartha Kitt sing “Santa Baby”. Just sublime.

Speaking strictly from a musical point of view, if I decided to go Kuzma, I would buy the Ref2 with 4points tonearm. It looks to be less hifi than the others, but I never compared it the the XL. I think it’s the beautiful sleeping in the Kuzma range of tts.

It’s been here for a very long time with little pods and that’s a sign that it’s conception was right from the start.

According to Rega’s lead engineer, nothing should be put on top of the platter as a clamp or weight is not part of the design. If it were, they  would include one or make available as an  optional upgrade like they do with a shelf, improved belts for their lower end tables, etc.

I am sure it is incorporated into heavier table designs like SOTA, VPI, Oracle, Clear Audio, Basis, Michell and the other big boys who sell or include weights/clamps along with their tables.

As far as @drbond ‘s original question, IMHO I would go with an integrated arm/table design like SME. You know it was designed to work together, and SME’s arms supposedly are outstanding and now only available new from them when buying one of their tables. I view SME as an end game table, maybe you can work your way up to their top of the line.

@sokogear 

The AMG is also an integrated Turntable, tonearm, clamp design. The same as the SME, in terms of integrated design. Why SME instead of AMG? Have you heard both turntables?