End Game Turntable suggestions

Mikey Fremer addressed the motor used in the HW40 in his review with very positive commentary.  It is an very high grade motor.  I know that Matt made a significant investment in inventory of motors to bring the price down on the product.  VPI has a track record that is unsurpassed in the industry for providing support for their products.  For example, this year I was able to purchase needed parts for my HW17 RCM that is 35 years old.  I have newer products from much bigger companies from Japan and Switzerland and the USA that are just decorations because parts are unobtainable. It makes me laugh when I read some of the posts on the web saying nasty things about companies like VPI, or McIntosh, or Conrad Johnson all of which support every product they ever manufactured.  Of course things could change, but the foot tracks in the sand are clear. 

I know Sota and SME and Klipsch and others also have a reputation for long term, excellent after sales support.  It might be fun and useful for us to put our collective experience together and make a list of companies that we have knowledge of who have a good track record of support for their products and their customers.  Ortofon comes to mind for me too, now that I think of it.

mdalton

I inherited a Thorens TD124 with an SME arm. Wonderful!

Tremendous quality, that heavy platter, in incredibly close tolerances, best most coherent bass I ever got out of a TT.

Design, moving parts below the deck are easy to understand, clean, lubricate, keep in top shape., 

My problem is my springy wood floors, so I sadly had to move on. The bearing is susceptible to vertical motion, so I traded it, moved to my current setup, also in a firmer location. Perhaps the Thorens bearing would be less problematic there. 

My end game table is a VPI Prime 21. It’s my second VPI.

I’m running a Soundsmith cart on it.

I would recommend it, or the Prime Sig with the gimbal arm.

Technics SP10 mk3 will usually cost a great deal more than a mk2 and is more difficult to find. If cost is an object, certainly the mk2 is fine. In my own experience the Denon DP80 is a bit better than the mk2 in stock form. I found the OEM mk2 in a slate plinth to have a trace “gray” coloration compared to the DP80 also in a slate plinth. But the SP10 mk3 is a world class turntable even by modern standards, in my opinion. I hasten to add that my mk3 was purchased NOS, now resides in a slate and solid cherrywood plinth, was Krebs modified, runs on JP Jones discrete chip installed and calibrated by JP. Just to say that in my experience there is more than a casual difference between a mk2 and mk3.