Every day I see another turntable recommendation...


After digging into this topic, I am convinced now I need to go a bit higher on this first vinyl set up. I think all in, I am prepared at this point to go up to $5k, for the table alone, not including arm or cartridge.

But frankly, being on this forum is like drinking from an information firehose. I have learned a bunch and yet somehow, I am less convicted than before.

With that in mind, to narrow down the decision, I am want to restrict myself to things I can buy, hear and, if necessary, service locally. My local dealers stock, AMG, AVM, Basis, Clearaudio, Michell, Musichall, Pro-ject, Rega, VPI, so I am likely restricted to those brands. I am certain my view will change by the end of this thread.

saulh

In that price range I would suggest the Kuzma Stabi S is unbeatable. I am very surprised that no one has yet mentioned this gem of a turntable.

Kuzma Stabi Model TT's are the ones I have been quite impressed by for a period of time.

There is a openness from the manufacturer about the adopted methods for the production, and within this disclosure there is undoubtedly a use of modern design, modern materials in combination with the technology utilised by the Company.

The Bearing Housings also look to be a cutting edge design and are definitely using materials of the type that I have been adopting to be used in modernisation methods.

I am tempted to thoroughly investigate this Companies Models and receive a demonstration when the time is right.    

"They will not shield the cartridge from extraneous vibration ( sound) as well if at all.". 

@mijostyn 

There is more than one way of shielding from vibration.  I favour unsprung TTs, no added springs elsewhere (boing boing) - who says vibrations can't pass through springs?

Mass isolation is the best vibration insulator by far.  No moving parts.  Just a big slab of concrete, stone or marble that would take a ton of force to move it, not a small vibration.  My support is mainly marble and must have a total weight of 1200 pounds or more.  It also isolates phono amp, pre-amp, power supplies, CD and SACD players.

My isolation 

@saulh no it is not a suspension at all. The magnetic field is compressed by the weight of the platter until it is almost as stiff as a solid thrust mechanism not to mention that the platter is still located by a solid spindle. 

@clearthinker, vibrations can pass through springs but only below the resonance frequency of the suspension. Springs are mechanical low pass filters. The suspension on my Sota is set at 2 Hz with a very high Q so by 8 Hz everything is blocked. No mechanical vibration above 8 Hz gets to the sub chassis. Since the sub chassis is entirely enclosed by the plinth and dust cover much less airborne vibration gets to it. 

MASS DOES NOTHING TO ISOLATE A TURNTABLE FROM MECHANICAL VIBRATION. I will say this until I am blue in the face. It does help with airborne vibration but not mechanical vibration. This is the vibration that is passed on to the turntable through whatever it is sitting on. Some people have called it "room Rumble" as it occurs at very low frequencies right about where tonearm resonance hits which only serves to amplify the rumble. Foot fall problems are "room rumble" generated by walking. Room Rumble is generated by anything and everything that is going on in the environment from the cement truck running down the street to various house mechanicals turning themselves on and off. Mass does not protect you from this and in the minds of some (Rega) can make things worse. Sound waves travel through the ground just like through air. When they get severe enough you get an earthquake. There is a constant din going on in the background it is just below the level and frequency our own senses can detect but not the cartridge, it feels everything. That is what it is designed to do.

So, clearthinker, throw away your Kuzma Stabi XL DC AIR and get yourself a real turntable like a Sota, Basis, Avid or SME and enjoy listening to music without rumble. It will be an entirely new experience for you.

You have an excellent choice from the brands you have mentioned. But you really need to look at your overall budget for the turntable, arm and cartridge as you can expect to pay close to the price of the turntable itself for a really good arm and 50 percent of the price for a good cartridge - though you can economise somewhat on the latter. I agree that you should add Technics to your list if possible. The SL1200G is a very good baseline to compare against the other turntables you have mentioned.