What Turntable to buy under $600 ?

Pauly ... read my earlier posts, therein lies the information.

Dvdgreco was asking for TT recs under $600. It all started well enough, then descended into a showoff-fest with arms cartridges and tables costing kilobucks. How is that helpful ?

I stand by my P3 suggestion. A perfectly reasonable deck. Add a denon dl-110, or a Goldring 1042 and be happy. If the desire to upgrade bites a P3 is also extremely easy to sell.

Ignorance is still running rampant...and LOL!!!

Psychic. I appreciate a person who sees the funny side of things. I do too
(most of the time) .

You keep on harping about my ignorance, but from my side the ignorance seems to be yours.

'Greco, take this from the underground: the Creature on Steroids will be at the $5K performance level when fully modded'.

Do you actually know what a $5000 TT sounds like at all? Which $5000 tables have you listened to? Can you provide a list? Who else have listened to your table and the yet unknown $5000 table to verify your objective (?) opinion?

'The modded Groovemaster has the midrange of a $1500 MC cartridge:'

Really? Which $1500 carts are you comparing it to? A Koetsu perhaps? Maybe a Shelter or Zyx? Anything? Have you ever spent time and listened to a $1500 cart? Do you even know what they sound like? Can anybody verify your groovemaster claim?

'A few months ago I got the strobe disabler for my 1200. No other TT has so many options'

Really? Strobe disabler? WTF is that supposed to do? Fix some mistake on the original design perhaps? On a Rega you can change platters, install VTA adjusters, rewire the arm and replace the end stub. You can add a strobe disabler?

For the record, I do not really care what technology is employed on a TT. If a $5000 idler wheel or direct drive comes out that beat the Galabiers, VPIs and Teres tables I’ll buy it in flash. Fact is there are none on the market.

Regards
Paul

"Fact is there are none on the market"

The Garrard 301, 401 and 501 sell for pretty big money when fully restored, and I have known people dump top spec. LP12s to get a garrard. The LP12 is not the best incarnation of belt drive, but it's good enough that if it is replaced with a Garrard there must be something to these idler-drive decks.

I must admit that my basic knowledge of physics would suggest that a Teres type approach (which is really brute force and ignorance) using a massive platter, a slender, non-elastic belt and a minimal motor, would appear to be optimum, but there are some who prefer the music from the Garrard. I personally have heard neither, but I would not discount either.

I have never heard a "hifi" setup Technics SL1200, so I would never write that off either. Again, I know of people who have dumped Rega P3s for an SL1200, and I know of people who have dumped SL1200s for Rega P3s, so it strikes me that neither would be obviously a better choice without first hearing it.

dvdgreco if you can stretch the budget a little a Michell tecnodec or Nottingham horizon will better the P3 for not much more money.