Systemdek iix upgrade path to ??

I had the IIX many years ago. It's a nice table. I had a Premier FT3 arm on it. I also had a Audioquest sorbathane(sp) mat and a record clamp. I always thought it was good sounding. I upgraded to a VPI HW-19 and found major differances. The one thing that really stuck in my mind is how much quieter the VPI was. I would go to a used HW-19. Great value for the money.

If you want that Systemdek II to sound it's best you have to puchase one of the acrylic platters for it and use a Rega RB300 tonearm or better tonearm and a real good MC catridge. YOu don't need any mats with the acrylic platter. The unit is almost as quiet as the VPI 19 MKI or MKII. The MK III IV and higher and the Aries and scout series are simply better and maybe not by that big of a margin. Blacker background, deep sound stage and the Rega arm makes this table handle a variety of cartridges better than the lousy profile arm.
We put several expensive tables during the 90s up against the Systemdek II with the acrylic platter Rega arm and AT OC7's, Vandenhul MC1's Sumiko Talisman S etc. All low output MC's and they performed wonderfully. It shamed several tables 3 and 4 times the price. Kent Brandsford of Hi Fi Heritec touted the Rega and Systemdek combo as one of the best value systems money could buy.
I'm using a Systemdek IVe with a Rega RB600 tonearm and AT OC9ML and Dynavector 10x5 and I'm very happy with it so far. The !0x5 is only a month old and not broken in but sounds pretty good. May not be as good as a Lyra or Benz or Ortofon in the 3 to 4 k range but is about 90% of what the others deliver IMO. I have owned Sotas, VPI's Oracles and other tables and I hold this Systemdek near my heart. If I were to step up it would be a Scout, Aries, or a table costing 4 times more but I'm not sure they will trounce the IV. By the way the 4 has a nearly a 12 pound platter vs the IIx 3.5 pound platter. Heavier springs and bigger armboard mount. Your II is a great table with potential if you are willing to tap into it! A guy sells the platter on ebay. Oh, Audionote sells a version of the IIX 900 called the TT1 for about 2 grand. Acrylic platter, rega arm and a square armboard. check it out and they sell the acrlic platter for the IIX too I believe.

Wow! Tremendous responses, thanks!! I do have the standard Systemdek profile arm.
One of the keys I found in the opinions was; "90% of close to prefect" is prefect for me! I don't think my ear or other equipment would know what to do with that other 10% anyway. So, I appreciate trying to get to that 90% with reasonable cost. It's so tough to figure out; do you spend the $1k on another tt, say a used VPI or take the $$ and invest in another arm, platter and see what that gets you, that's really the dilemma.

I've been tempted to get the acrylic platter, I've seen that for a decent price, so I may go with that. As for the Rega 300, I read some post where the person was complaining that it made the bottom sound too bassy and something else along the lines of vagueness. That seemed to run counter to many other posts saying the exact opposite.

As for the Denon 103r, that really surprises me! I thought that was a good match!! It sounded a lot better then to me. What does not match? I have a BK Pro 10 pre. I thought that the 103r was a match for a profile arm?

Thanks again and I look forward to learning more. I may entertain the RB300 and acrylic platter. Would I need a new arm board?

Jack