End Game Turntable suggestions

I do not follow the forum member 'Shakti' on Whatsbestforum, but I have followed their reported on experiences and communicated directly about these on more than a few occasions over the past years through other points of contact.

Where I have directly experienced some of the experiences reported on, I am happy state the a 'Shakti' report is with a very accurate commentary and description.

There are very very few that have experiences under their belt as Shakti has and the communication with Industry Leaders in Vinyl Replay as he has.

Shakti is now in possession of a Motus from November 2022 and the reports to be found on the performance and comparative descriptions are IMO, worthy of taking on board.     

The one that was given to me the most when I asked this question was the SOTA Sapphire VI.  I went that route based on an overwhelming about of recommendations and the fact they were local to me.   But. have a beautiful end game turntable now.  

Thanks again to everyone for your contributions. For the benefit of others in similar situation I wanted to share my shortlist - it has changed from my initial position thanks to all the advice and suggestions, and shows the value of this forum.

In deciding the shortlist i wanted to stay true to the three principles (a) simplicity (b) staying close to budget and (c) visual appeal (not bling, as some may have interpreted).

Despite very tempting restored vintage options (quality, VFM, nostalgia, romance etc), I decided to go with contemporary. I think there are excellent options in the new/used current models market, albeit at a premium, with set it and forget it possibility. I don't to tweak and experiment, i just want to enjoy music on a reasonably great setup.

For now here are the final four in no particular order, i will try to audition what i can:

1. Rega P10 (i was really against it in the beginning) $6400

2. Dr Feikert Volare with Origin Live arm - $4000, allowing for a $2K+ cartridge

3. Thorens TD 1601 - $4000, available for less on preowned market. Leaves a lot of room for a very good cartridge, and i like the semi automatic function

4. Acoustic Solid Black Wood MPX - $5000, high mass classic design

The options I cannot currently reach owing to budget limitations (but would otherwise be my top choices)

1. VPI HW 40 DD

2. STST Motus II DQ (direct drive with semiautomatic feature)

3. Technics SP10

4. SME

Any thoughts on this welcome. Thanks all

I think the Thorens or the Rega with the best cartridge you can afford is the way to go. Saving $2400 on the Thorens adds that much to the cartridge kitty. If you can get into something like the Ortofon Windfeld Ti or the Lyra Kleos you would be living high off the hog. 

As for your dream Turntable the suspended Motus or SME are handily better than the others. The Sota Cosmos Vacuum outperforms all of them. It has a magnetic thrust bearing, a state of the art drive system, a proper suspension, vacuum clamping and a really great dust cover that can and should be used during play. If you want fancy looking the Basis Inspiration is the way to go. It will cost you three times as much as the Sota for very similar performance. David Fletcher and AJ Conte were big friends. They were both engineers who loved audio. 

@mijostyn in your view it makes sense to pair a 4K TT (Thorens 1601) with a 5K cartridge? Many pundits seem to say that if the table isn't super high end, you cant benefit from this level of cart. Very curious, I am coming from an Ortofon Bronze MM so not familiar with super highend in the cart space....