young and new to analog.

Chuckelator,
My first turntable was a Dual. I think older Thorens are much better for around the same price, if you're thinking of going 70's or 80's vintage. The Dual was made of a lot of plastic and the tonearm was *very* basic. If you go for a Thorens, get one that has a removeable armboard. That way you could perform an easy upgrade in the future by going with a Rega arm or something. Probably TD-125 mk2, TD-145, or TD-160 would be pretty good.

Yes, in theory a manual table is said to perform better, less parts to add noise or vibrate, BUT! in reality a good say late 70's to early 80's vintage table of the higher end types even if they are semi-auto to fully auto will not sound bad and likely be hard to notice as being noisy in 99% of any listening you may do.

You will at times see on eBay better vintage tables of that era, just for example:

The higher end Denon's with the wood grain finish and the often glossy finish types. Some are auto lift (the tone arm lifts at end of play) others are fully auto but are designed to be as capable in dong so as one can get. They have tough high quality quartz lock direct drives and have earned a good reputation for pretty good sound playback. The Dynamically balanced type tone arms use servos to control movement and yes if the table has been beat on or not well used etc. can be an issue but you may find the good buy on these at times.

JVC: They had their line of higher end QL series starting with the matt black finished tables of the late 70's to the high gloss wood grain looking ones till the mid 80's. They have some with dynamic balanced tone arms too and the same issues need to be addressed as with the Denon's.

Kenwood: Has the marble like concrete resin tables which get good reviews from vintage owners. The higher end ones were well thought out and solid performers.

Sansui: SR series of tables from the late 70's to early 80's were like the others here well designed and offer great playback qualities.

There are more choices, most of the Japan Inc. manufacturers from the late 70's to mid 80's had a few higher end and better designed tables which are much better than the cheaper stuff they also sold especially once the CD became popular and Japan Inc. stopped caring about good turntables.

There is a wealth of previous threads that cover this topic you might want to explore.

Chuckelator - If you go to United Home Audio, you might get to experience another audiophile phenomenon ..The snooty condescending salesman.

I went in there to purchase the PS audio power plant, and asked about some turntables. After saying I had a Musical Fidelity A5 CD player, he dismissivly snorted 'they sound awful', he then derided my choice of a boutique preamp (the Supratek Chenin) as crazy risky.
I didn't take it personally, but haven't been back since.

ahh...defiantely not what i'm looking for in a helpful sales person..haha. i probably won't buy new. i just wanna run some of these ideas you guys threw at me to them (not disregarding anything you guys have told me) but i figure ill get a really good idea of what to go for if i talk to an audio expert dude.

i just figured since thats the only one you guys mentioned in maryland thats where i would go (i hate driving thru dc and in virginia haha)

i spend most of my free time in baltimore, though i'm from southern md, i was looking for somewhere around the annapolis/I-97 area.