Calling all analog experts

Doug, Caterham, Sayas, Eldartford and Jsonic,
I would reiterate my willingness (and I think Doug's) to host a comparison of the alteratives (e.g. my lower cost Michell Gyro, vs, Doug's "ultimate in analog" Teres) (P.S. Doug if we arrange it at your place I'll provide the "refreshments") Send notice by private email if you have an interest and perhaps we can set something up.

Jsonic, you should be glad we've turned this discussion into a real, serious one looking at TT design parameters and constraints. If you search the archives you'll see it over and over--people just parroting away belt drive choices without any real technical considerations--especially in the lower price range, where *glass and particle board* TTs abound.

From this thread it is evident that there are two choices in your price range: Teres (belt drive) or the KAB modded Technics SL-1200MKII (quartz-locked direct drive). I chose the creature on steroids and am very glad I did. I am getting phenomenal performance on a real world budget--and will keep getting better as I do some more tweaks to the power delivery and have the tonearm rewired and new interconnects. I just love direct drives. They're for people who want to *play* records. Here's some input from the owner of Bear Labs, who owns a top of the line Denon DD:

You just discovered several of the the advantages of Direct Drive 'tables!

In order to make an informed choice you MUST listen to a high quality direct drive unit, be it a Technics, Denon, Micro Seiki, Goldmund, Rockport.

Jasonic...These threads do tend to evolve into discussions related to, but not directly answering the original question. Frankly, we often answer one of the prior posters, rather than the original thread author. In this case Dougdeacon's mention of me by name, referring to a prior discussion, caught my eye. Sorry to confuse the issue.

Regarding the particular units that you have under consideration I claim no expertese. To put it bluntly, I am very well served by my high tech but definitely non-approved by audiophiles Sony ps X800, and have, for some years invested money elsewhere in the system. I follow TT technology just for the interesting ideas involved: not with the idea of buying a new TT.

Ok, I guess if you can't beat 'em ,join 'em works for me too.
What are the differences /advantages of mm vs. mc cartridges and do certain tables require one type or the other? Do certain arms require a specific cartridge type?

I can see you read Bear's thread. Good for you. What I'm understanding since having the outboard power supply installed less than two weeks ago is that transients do require significant torque delivered instantly in the case of a quartz locked DD or through inertia on a good belt drive. My modded Stanton Groovemaster has the midrange of a $1,500 moving coil. How can it happen in a moving magnet design that is comparably 'heavy' to move vs moving coils? Part of the answer has to do with magnet alignment and part of the answer is that my platter CAN move the magnets no sweat. If the same arm and cartidge were placed in, say a Rega P9 or a Linn Sondek the results would be substandard.