Turntable prices. Is my mind going?

@lewm : the AR TT was introduced in 1964 at a price of $78. I bought a nicely modded version from Vinyl Nirvana for $750. Taking into account the depreciation of the US dollar that is a reasonable price.

@tomic601 Sapphire is spelled with two "P"s. The Sapphire was a brilliant. David Fletcher took Edgar Villchur's design and flipped it upside down creating the most stable turntable to date. That design has since been borrowed by SME, Avid, Basis and others. It was never bettered until recently when MinusK's negative stiffness design was adapted by Mark Dohmann for his Helix turntables. Sota in the meanwhile has not stood still. It brought vacuum clamping to consumer turntables, developed a CAD chassis of 1" thick aluminum, had what many consider to be the finest motor and motor controller adapted for their turntables, developed the perfect mat for a turntable and designed a new platter with a neodymium magnet thrust bearing. I like the Cosmos most because it violates Mark Levison's rules of Audio. It is not cool looking and it does not cost a fortune. I can live with that. The Sapphire can have all of these features except the aluminum chassis. 

Why thank you @mahgister. For those who have not read the "Achtung!" Poster you might get a kick out of it. I have no idea who authored it, but I first saw it at an audio store in Akron, Ohio called Golden Gramophone now defunct.  

@grislybutter , I know of plain looking units, but most units get the Goochi treatment first utilized by one of audios capital a--h-les Dan D'Agostino. Remember the gold screws! Dan is still pushing the limits. I would not use his electronics if they were the last on earth. I would rather sing to myself. 

@mijostyn Sometimes you have to make it shiny to justify the price, I guess.