Clueless and Seeking advice on TT purchase

If you do get a turntable with Rega tonearm, definitely upgrade the counterweight. The one I use is F-2 Titanium Heavyweight Counterweight from Gregory Kerry,Inc. reached at email: gkerry@sympatico.ca
Both of the ads you provided links to made me drool. But, they lacked the counterweight upgrade.
My Sonographe turntable with Rega RB-300 tone arm is so far below what you are considering, I paid about the same for it, second hand, as for my new VPI record cleaner machine.
Still, the titanium counterweight makes my vinyl listening a joy.

Hi Clueless

I highly add my kados to the above votes for the VPI Scout. I recently received one and they are everything they are claimed.

All the best.

AEW

Hi Craig.

I think you might want to consider getting a Teres bearing, platter, and motor w/controller, and DIY'ing a base to your liking. Teres sells the items like this for DIY use. They originally came this way before Chris decided to make complete tables. It is fairly easy, and there are hundreds of others who have done this. And, it would really tie in to the DIY theme of your system.(And it would sound better than any of the other possibilities in that price range, IMO.)

You could put a standard or modded RB250 on it, and maybe a Denon DL103R, and have quite a package for the money.

Dear Clueless, Start reading Stereophile more, they are also clueless.

I second Twl's recommendation. If you can DIY a plinth this would be a great way to go. Search the recent threads here for two other guys that are doing this project now.

The core of any TT is the bearing, and the Teres bearing is well beyond anything else in this price range. You'd have to go to a high end Basis model to equal or better it.

The Teres DC motor is quieter and more speed stable than the AC motors on the other tables mentioned. VA has quite a few testimonials from owners of other TT's (including some recommended on this thread) who've achieved substantial performance improvements by changing to a Teres motor. Why not just start with the best?

The motor controller circuit is world class. Some TT's make you twist knobs or, even worse, fiddle the belt to fine tune speed. The Teres motor controller makes the platter speed self-stabilizing.

Even the least expensive Teres platter is more massive than others in this price range. That gives it greater resistance to feedback resonances and stylus drag.

Sorry to go on, but in your position anyone with DIY skills who's concerned about bang-for-the-buck should consider this solution.

Enjoy the tunes whatever you do!