What are your top 3 favorite turntable companies (manufacturer) and why?

@inna

I have a German turntable and tonearms (Clearaudio), Japanese cartridges (Lyra x 2, Dynavector), American phono-stage (Boulder), British electronics (Naim Audio top-of-line Classic series), Danish speakers (Dynaudio) and British subs (REL).

I know about PRaT and great midrange. My system has both. Brits are great at it (and you see I have Naim/REL) but they can't claim or dominate it on their own.

No, they don't, I suppose. But when I think turntables I always think British first.

Good for you, but most other audiophiles don't, or if they do I wait to hear from them.

And I think Australians might take umbrage at the notion they are naught but displaced Brits. Doehmann and Caliburn are very fine TTs, for sure, but neither makes a TT for the masses, and neither has a long history in the business.

Technics

SOTA

VPI

Thorens (mostly in honor of their past successes)

Linn (because otherwise I will be excoriated)

The above in no particular order.

Also now I think of it: Denon, Dual, AR, Kuzma, Basis, Yamaha, Pioneer.

What parts have you needed for a Clearaudio? Just curious. In nearly 15 years of Clearaudio ownership (Ovation/Innovation/Universal) I’ve only needed belts, and some bearing oil my dealer provided free.

As for upgrades, I got some pretty generous trade-in allowances on Clearaudio arms from Musical Surroundings in the past (Clarify -> Magnify -> Universal), the Clearaudio U.S. distributor.

A plain Innovation armboard with a 40 mm hole drilled in it for $900, with an 8 month wait. Replacement Master Innovation shipping boxes (& packing) also for $900. Everything ordered from Germany takes a long, long time to arrive. A 80mm acrylic top platter (to replace the delrin one), I think that was $1600 - 2K. The liquid pump in my Double Matrix Pro Sonic keeps failing, ugh very frustrating.

I also have a spare Innovation controller PCB which is good because I don’t trust the trimpots on my original one (always adjusting back & forth to try and stabilize speed). Can’t for the life of me remember what I paid for that but I’m sure it wasn’t cheap. I should probably also get a spare DC motor since I’ll be keeping this table for the long haul.

On the bright side it is my best sounding table :) 

burmester 175 is a complete system, IMO, nothing comes close in the price range and its a beauty

merrill-scallia and Merrill-williams tables, absolutely stunning performance

sme makes a great table as well