SACD vs Analog

For the EMT, I can wholeheartedly recommend also
another ex-EMT engineer Hans Fabritius from fabtech.de (honest, no BS, no $$$-hungry person, helped me a big big deal to put my 930 in shape...teching about the machine as well).
There is also Hans van Vliet in Holland (no persolan experience apart from few emails but sounded very right too).

Good luck!

Abronfer...I realise I may be offering conflicting advice but I would urge you not to get "hung up" on record cleaning issues at this stage.
Although I'm an advocate of cleaning LPs I feel everything has its place. In the 1980s Linn used to argue cleaning was unnecessary because the the stylus performed this task. This is obviously an "extreme" view but in one sense it is correct. If you purchased 120g LPs from new and kept them dust free, then, on a well optimised rig, many/most of them will appear to be noiseless. This is certainly the case with most of the stuff I bought back in the 70s & 80s. They can sound as good as the day I bought them (and quieter than some of the ones that have been cleaned!). However, not knowing the history of pre-owned vinyl, e.g. cigarette smokers, you may wish to clean them yourself or have them professionally cleaned for a small fee.
I don't personally clean my 2nd hand LPs but instead hive the job off a few dozen at a time to a bureaux or dealer to do it for me on a Lori or Keith Monks for £2/item.
Given that some 2nd hand LPs only cost £0-99 this is a small price to pay for not being oppressed by drudgery. 9 times out of 10 they'll do a better job than I would :) Thus you can get on with enjoying the music as life is most definitely short.

As a minimum I would recommend a Zerostat gun though. It keeps static to a minimum. Use on both sides whenever you flip, then again both sides after playing (or just pop the LP straight back into an anti-static sleeve and seal it.)
I also endorse the view that with analogue the more you spend on the arm and T/T the greater the reward. Many are quite happy to use a Denon 103 on their expensive rigs... :)
Hope this is helpful.

I have Stockfish DMM vinyl, with the accompanying hybrid SACD/CD of the same recording. This is great for direct back to back comparisons of the 3 formats. I have recently become hooked on Vinyl, but to be truthful, there is not a lot in the difference when flicking between sources, SACD is as good as vinyl when flicking between sources, however after extended listening to vinyl, when you go back to SACD, something is missing. I don't have the vocab to describe what is missing, but I know I definitely prefer vinyl. The best digital I have heard was a recording in double DSD of a record!!

Dinster,
Was it the rumble or drone sound of the needle touching the record, that you missed with SACD?

Milpai,
Well said!