Turntable upgrade recommendations: SME vs AMG vs Technics vs other

@drbond 

For that budget I would investigate

Brinkmann Balance 2 arm with Ront Tube power supply

Techdas Air Force 3 Premium

both of these would be around the $40k mark before negotiation.

For the Acoustic Signature you would have to go to the Ascona Neo @$50k retail to meet the performance of the Brinkmann/Techdas.

As an aside - if you want to explore vintage a mint Micro Seiki 8000 mk1 can be had for around US$25k, which according to some owners of both is as good as the Air Force One ( north of $100k ).  It may require a little extra effort for any parts, maintenance etc but the performance is at Airforce 1 level.

Yes I think Mike Lavigne has a Japanese table with a really weird name that caught my attention. Not a belt but a sinewy type of rope, no speed correction on the motor, lots of weight and a tangent tracking arm.

@audition__audio 

cc @drbond 

CSPort air bearing turntables you are referring to are very good.

I’ve owned & enjoyed a Basis 2500 w/ a Basis Vector 4 arm & a ZYX MC cartridge for 20 years. Simple, very solid w/ very well engineered & built in NH. Still works flawlessly & sounds excellent. I think the newest version is the 2800. Seems better in every way. I would highly suggest taking a look. Strangely,  Stereophile never mentions Basis & the Absolute Sound has highly rated many of their models. Advertising propaganda I suspect.  I value long term reliability consistency highly especially when spending my hard earned $. 

Yes CS Port. Thank you!