End Game Turntable suggestions

An uncommon brand with a great lineage is Nottingham Analogue. Their Dais design was one of the last by the late great Tom Fletcher. Best to buy from the UK. Price without tax is in your range.

I have the predecessor Mentor with a custom plinth and Dais bearing, motor and power supply. It doesn’t perform to the level of my DIY all air bearing (thrust AND radial air) table, but it’s no disgrace in that company. Add a Terminator air tonearm (if available) and you have a superb piece that will last you until you have a six figure itch.

One quirk with the Dais: you have to start it rotating by hand. Fletcher’s great insight was to use a precision low power motor, which was only just strong enough to rotate the platter against bearing friction. That leaves very little energy to turn into noise. And it works out that way in practice - the background is astonishingly black.

Dear  @musicmatters1206  : " Basis Signature 2500 with vacuum, i am going to have sleepless nights....  "

Well that unit set you back over 15K: for what?

You need a TT with speed stability mated with an excellent tonearm and these are part characteristics of the RP-10 that you can add the Basis reflex clamp and you are done rith there.

Put your money where it mattters after the RP-10:  A Lyra cartridge/VDH low output, Ortofon, MSL, etc, etc and a way better phono stage as  this " humble " unit by PS Audio that competes even aginst the very expensive $$$$  Swiss CH units. Please read the review at the Atkinson measurements that no one Zestos can even dream but that helps a lot for you can have a very high resolution and heavy quality performance levels in the sounds reproduction at your room/system:

PS Audio Stellar Phono phono preamplifier Page 2 | Stereophile.com

PS Audio Stellar Phono phono preamplifier Measurements | Stereophile.com

It's your money and your system but don't waste your time and money for " expensive " audio products. Price tag means nothing for any one. 

A fine tunned room/system will sounds a lot better than a maga$$$$$$$ systems where money can't " fine tuning " job no matters what, yes you have to learn through the time that " fine tunning " but first step yo do it is that your system links have the " hidden capacities " to do it and the RP and PS Audio have it.

R.

@musicmatters1206 IMHO...there is a tremendous amount of great info here. As far as the 1601 goes I am extremely happy. I agree with all of the wonderful design concepts from the point of what they contribute to the ultimate sound of the vinyl. However, I do not believe mechanical design can make a bad pressing/recording/mix sound significantly better. I believe the most important piece to the puzzle is the cartridge. With that said, would I hang a $10K cartridge from the 1601? Likely not. However, when the stylus on my Ortofon wears out I will certainly look to spending $3-$5K on one to use on it. Many don't think a $4K TT is worthy of a $4K cartridge. In the case of the 1601 I disagree. I believe isolation and proper set up will allow the 1601 to perform extremely well with any $200 to $5K cartridge installed. At least as well as the cartridge allows.

Definitely listen to the Rega Planar 10 but with the top of the line Aphelion cartridge and not the Apheta which I found somewhat harsh and unforgiving of less than perfect recordings. When I tested the Planar 10 and Planar 8 I ended up going for the 8 with the Ania pro cartridge which has a spectacularly refined and "together" presentation. Since both turntables run from an outboard power source one assumes there should not be a problem changing voltages (but check this).

Questions such as this inevitably result in a sea of recommendations and there’s no value in me just adding to the list. But here’s something important, imo:

musicmatters1206

... i am sure they sound good but i have this bias for mass that i will need to overcome ...

I would not be so quick to overcome your bias here. I have found that there tends to be a difference in sound between high mass and lower mass designs, so it’s pretty natural to develop a preference for one over the other, depending on your taste.