Which turntable should I buy?

Nick,
As a Spacedeck/Spacearm/Shelter 501 owner, and having a friend with a Scoutmaster/JMW9/Denon103 & Dyna17d (i.e. Slipknot1), I would heartily recommend either of these tables. Haven't heard any of the new Thorens tables, but most of the raves seem to be from mag reviewers where they advertise.
Tough choice between the 'Nott & the VPI.
In the Spacedeck's favor, you get tremendous airy soundstage(hence the name), plenty of "PRAT", very high speed stability(w/o separate speed controller--although that is an upgrade option), natural timbre, option to add 2nd arm pod. Downside to some is the lack of finger tab on the tonearm, lack of power button(I actually like the feel of manually spinning the table to start it up!), uncommunicative corporate culture(guess you could just call them concise ;-) .
VPI gives you more slam on the bottom end, a slightly drier tonal balance IMHO, a clear and well defined upgrade path, and enough sales quantity to allow companies to design complementary accesories(e.g. Ghinko Cloud platforms) specifically designed to mate w/the VPIs.
Either of these table/arm combos would mate well with a number of different cartridges. Don't take the phono stage for granted, too. You'll want to make sure that your phono stage has appropriate settings for the cartridge you choose. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress! Cheers,
Spencer

You could buy a Michell Tecnodec w RB 250 AND a GSP Audio Era Gold MK 5 phono preamp for $2500- most often overlooked, and ESSENTIAL to good analog is the phono pre. SPEND SOME $$ HERE, and you'll thank yourself later.

In my opinion, if you want speed and dynamics, then you should seriously consider an unsuspended turntable in your price range, and use a rigid high-mass stand.

Select your arm with the cartridge in mind, that you plan to get. The arm and cartridge work together, and must be matched. If you fail to consider the cartridge when you pick the arm, you may find that the arm you bought and cartridge you want are not a suitable match, and you have to go to a 2nd choice in cartridge. The arm and cartridge always need to be considered together, even if you cannot afford the get the cartridge right now.

If I was going to get a $2500 table/arm right now, I'd seriously look at a DIY Teres 160 and an OL modded RB250, and then get a Denon DL103R cartridge for it.

Nickatkins,

I was asking similar questions just a little while ago until I finally bought my setup.

I could make other recommendations based on research alone, but I will stick with the three you have listed.

Nottingham. If $2,500 is your limit for a turntable and tonearm, the Nottingham choice is now $3,000. Sorry, it’s over your stated budget. But it would be my recommendation, although I feel the turntable is a bit quirky, as mentioned earlier.

Scoutmaster. The VPI Scoutmaster can be had for $2,300, and there is a wealth of options that can bring the entire deck up to a whopping $5,000. However, according to VPI tech support, you must use the VPI JMW-9 tonearm, which has an effective mass of 7 grams and has really no provision for antiskating. The mass of this arm may exclude cartridges that have low compliance and are lightweight. (The Denon DL103R is one example of a cartridge with low compliance.) You could, however, increase the effective mass of the arm by adding weight to the headshell. (You might want to get Twl’s opinion before do this.) To set antiskating, you must twist the tonearm cable. (Are you a good twister?) You may want to contact Slipknot for more information about carrying out that procedure. To tell you the truth, I am not a big fan of the JMW-9, but a lot of people seem to love it.

Thorns. The Thorns is not a bad table, one I considered very seriously. It can easily be had for $1,800, which is the TD 850BC version, the one without a tonearm. To keep your cost under $2,500, you could add the Graham Robin ($645), which would bring your total to $2,445. Later, you could replace the existing tonearm cable with an Incognito Rega Loom rewire kit for non-Rega tonearms. Galen Carol Audio carries this kit, and can even do the wire replacement for $75. If you want to know how this deck sounds, read Michael Fremer’s review; it was quite favorable.

By the way, you have a very nice system. You might want to reconsider your budget in light of what you currently have so that you strike a good sonic balance with the rest of your components. You also have not mentioned what phono cartridge you intend to use now, and what cartridges you would like to use in the future. Twl is right: you must match the cartridge with the tonearm and with the phono stage in your Supratek.

So you see that putting an analog front end together is not so easy as buying a CD player; there’s a lot to consider. Just keep asking questions and eventually you will get there.

Good luck!

Thanks to all of you for your helpful replies, although Psychicanimal, I'll leave the Technics 'tables to you, thanks all the same ;-)

Artar1 -- thanks for the compliments, my system is only just starting to get really nice! To be honest, I didn't really consider a cartridge until the last few days of research and now I realize how important it is and how damn many of them there are out there! I guess I just assumed I'd get a table and arm and a mid-priced cartridge that seems popular (a) with the the 'table I get and (b) with Supratek owners. I have been chatting to slipknot1 prior to the arrival of his Chenin -- he has a Scoutmaster (with funky motor) of course.

My friend John (outlier) has a nice Teres and a Supratek so I know what they sound (and look) like together. I was hoping to not simply follow him down the Teres path though ;-) What's the wait time on a 245 these days, anyone know?

Anyway, I have some weeks and Christmas in England for more research and then I decide. Thanks so far guys!

Nick.