Hi CW, I don't know what your budget is, and what 'vintage cool' is for you. Offhand, fitting the category of tables which would accept the SMEIII, I like the high-design look of the PD-310, and stretching higher, the PD-444 and PD-555, and of course the "flying-saucer-in-a-plinth" method of buying a motor and plinthing it your way (Denon (go for the numbers above 5000 or the DP80 or DP75), JVC TT-71/TT-81, Sony TTS-6000 and TTS-8000, etc). I am sure there are more. For me, if I really wanted to use the SMEIII, my first thought would be a TTS-8000 in one of the original black lacquer plinths they sold, maybe the one which came with the 'rack handles'. Either that or a Micro Seiki, but those tend to get on in price (though if you want to spend the money, they are excellent. The belt-drive 1500 series are great tables, and armboards for SME are easily found or made; or the 'one-box' tables with model numbers ending in 91 or higher (91, 101, 111, 555, 777) are all excellent and allow interchangeable arm bases which accept SME-mount arms).
Personally, I'm partial to some of the tech-y looking stuff like the PX-2 you once had, and similar automatic tables, but they usually come with their own arms and I have never tried taking the original arms off. For further source material, you might try The Vintage Knob.
As to concerns about both armboards and tables, Viridian has it nailed. I would add the caveat that if the servo defeat switch is engaged, it may work, but some models had a tendency to stray a bit far before coming back and sound bad doing so. The models I distinctly remember having the strip were the above-mentioned Denons and Sonys. I am sure there were others which used the technology from Sony.
Personally, I'm partial to some of the tech-y looking stuff like the PX-2 you once had, and similar automatic tables, but they usually come with their own arms and I have never tried taking the original arms off. For further source material, you might try The Vintage Knob.
As to concerns about both armboards and tables, Viridian has it nailed. I would add the caveat that if the servo defeat switch is engaged, it may work, but some models had a tendency to stray a bit far before coming back and sound bad doing so. The models I distinctly remember having the strip were the above-mentioned Denons and Sonys. I am sure there were others which used the technology from Sony.