Hello Larry, Yes, I can picture your set-up, this is a very attractive Table. Many followers of the Denon 103R as well, as being a great value.
I understand your analogy, and I'm sure basically every other forumite does as well. I would say a large percentage "came up through the ranks" so to speak, and didn't "wake up" into Analog with a cold start, and then with the very first Turntable they bought, went out and sprung $10K-$30 for it.
But there are quite a few Forumites here who have multiple tens of thousands of dollars invested, and basically have no regrets.
Some people spend $40K for a Bass Boat to use twice a year, buy a vintage Vehicle-Show Car that might have 500 mi. per year placed on the Odometer.
And then us music lovers I reckon, who work hard for thier money, and go through hell at times to make it, want to come home, sit back, and get thier socks blown off, by a system that has the least amount of compromise. This of course is where the big bucks can come in.
Of course as you, and others know Larry, a Turntable, or an Amp, of whatever, that let's say cost $10,000 doesn't sound ten times better than a $1,000 one.
I guess many here "have had the rest, and now want the best". Or at least the best they can afford.
Sometimes with certain hobbies, one goes without, and deprives themselves of other things, to fund these "idiosyncranic" hobbies.
I have many friends into the Amateur Astronomy Hobby, with large Triplet Apochromatic Refractor Telescopes that cost what a "good" Automobile cost, state of the art Mounting Systems with GOTO Operation at the push of a button, Elaborate Personal Observatories, CCD Camera Equipment that cost multiple $1,000's. One fella I know spent $45K for a CCD Camera to go on the back of his own 24" RC Cassegrain Reflector Telescope housed in his own personal Observatory up in Cloudcroft, NM.
As I close Larry, I reckon it's what floats your boat! ;-) Take care, Mark
