best turntable under $5k

Table or table and arm?And for that matter rember that your Cart and phono stage will DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR influence the sound of your set up.Also what kind of sound do you like (now what we like).Sprung suspension vesus hard mounted cones (used SME 10??) i.e.soft versus hard and or fatser sound.A Linn will sound best to some a Rega P-9 where eveything is as tight and stiff as possible may sound better to the next guy.Then there is convenience features.Do you want to use more than one carttridge?Me I'd like to havce a ghreat stereo cart ,one for mono,and one for beaters which is why instead of multiple arm decks (many fewer today than say the 70's)which could get expensive I went with VPI (though Graham and SME allow either tube or headshell swaps).Also for economy I need to find a good phono section which allows for front or easy changes in configuration.Think there are lot's of variables that go beyond "what's the best at X price" unless you know you have proper matched cart/phono section and other citeria figured out.
Good hunting
chazzbo

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Pedrillo,
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The Turntables from Teres are an incredible value. The best value point might of the line might be the model 320 that sells for % 5,600.00. It would be worth the stretch of $600.00 over your $ 5,000.00 limit (if that is your budget for the table alone).
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Here is the link to the Teres home page:

http://www.teresaudio.com/tables.html
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The Teres TT's are incredibly simple and reliable tables, one of the best motors on the market and perhaps the best sound for the price out there.
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Rgds,
Larry
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Avid Volvere with Rega arm (if you can go 800 higher SME 309. Great tt. Easy to set-up, extremely well made. Dynamics, timing and detail of a non-suspended tt but midrange with depth and palpability of a suspended. Background quietness not unlike cd.

Best under $5k that I've heard is the Galibier Ascent Alu. The mid-range Teres tables tend to smear the image and lose impact on the leading edge of transients. The 360 is better but it's twice what you want to spend.

With a PVC platter the Galibier is $4500, or $5500 with the teflon/alu platter. However if you ask for a discount you will probably get within your budget. It comes with mountings for two arms as standard.

It has the same bearing technology as the Teres because its designer/builder was in that project from the start. It has a simpler and therefore more reliable motor controller circuit and it sounds better.

More at http://www.galibierdesign.com

And unlike most of the guys here who recommend Teres I've actually heard both!

Having said that, both Teres and Galibier offer way better value for money than the longer established brands. Take a look at the materials and work that go into these to appreciate how selling direct enables them to make such great tables so competitively priced.

Another turntable you may want to consider is the progressive (http://www.progressive-engineering.com) I had been looking in the $4000 range and the folks one the Bottlehead forum steered me towards Progressive.

The TT is very well built and easily beats all production tables that I have heard at dealers by a very wide margin. It also allows the use of three arms, which was not a requirement for me, but is proving to be a very enjoyable feature. And it doesn't look all that bad either!!

The proprietor (Mike Paschetto) is very helpful and response unlike some of the other builders I tried to deal with. The turntable was shipped promptly and Mike turns out arm boards with very little notice.

Regards
Paul