Every day I see another turntable recommendation...

I went from a Clearaudio Concept with Hana EH to a Clearaudio Ovation with a Clearaudio Universal tonearm and Hana ML. Worlds different and astonishingly good. Could be my last table, possibly not. What made the upgrade even better was selling my Chinook (which blew away my Musical Surroundings Nova III) moving up to the Allnic H-3000. At the advice of others, the phono really does need to be upgraded. My Allnic is one of my favorites and possibly my last phono I'll need.

Spend the money now or you'll be continuing to spend it. Choice is yours. 

@pindac can I ask where are you located?

@saulh, I confess at the outset that I haven't read through this entire thread. However, as some have suggested, going "all in" on a TT set-up can mean many things. Focusing only on TT, arm & cart is, IMHO, rather myopic. There are definitely other necessary accoutrements for achieving the "best" sonic results possible in whatever budget target you set. Respectfully, I suggest adding a good record cleaning machine or system to your list of usual suspects, in addition to a good phono pre-amp. Clean records (i.e. not only clean-looking but actually clean, down to the grooves) are indispensable to achieving the best sonic fidelity with any good quality equipment you choose. If you want ease & convenience in the record cleaning department, have a look at the Degritter. If you don't mind a more labor-intensive approach, you can achieve the same or better results with a lash-up system at half the cost. Regardless, CLEAN records will be indispensable to great vinyl fidelity.  BTW:  even brand-new records should be cleaned before their first play. There will also be other things you'll need, as well (e.g. record camp or weight; stylus cleaner; LAST record preservative; etc.). Up for a little heavy reading and a hell of an education on the care & feeding of vinyl LP's? Check out "Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records" by Neil Antin on The Vinyl Press. Also, you might want to hang out at Analog Planet for a while and get to know Michael Fremer. All the Best!

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.

Functional truths are like that. They’re an opening into, a cascading expansion..ergo, ergo, ergo... - not a closure.

The journey is where it is at. Always has been, always will be. By the time you arrive, it is clear that the end point is meaningless, in itself.

@saulh

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.

By now I suspect you already know that there will be advocates for each mfg’s TT. Then others will pick one NOT on the list. Another will try to save you $$$ with a cheaper TT while another says you need to up the budget by a little and get this one.

IMO, the best thing to do is take what you have read and learned and apply that. Then, look at user and professional reviews. Look for the common traits that are listed among the different TT’s and pick one. Yes, there are lots of good info here. but too much can cause a lot of confusion. You have to get your own head in the game. Then choose, based on your reasoning skills. Good luck and enjoy the journey.