Decisions, decisions....

I think if you want the Linn sensibility without the trouble, sell it all and get a Well Tempered Simplex. I'm a long time Linn owner who lost their local set up guy and finally dumped my LP12 and haven't looked back once. The WT sound great with Dyna, Lyra, etc. I'm using an EMT TSD-15 and I love the sound. I thinks it's probably more musically pleasing than my old LP12/Lyra Delos.

In analog you will find endless turntables in various price ranges which have one in common: They sound more or less identical and the owners recommend anything to anyone because they don't know it better.... I would support the answer from Dhcod, that is a really good choice. And I would add the Townsend Rock turntable.

Look at TW ACUSTIC tuntable very musical.

Goforth, Insofar as the Linn tt's, in my estimation, tend to make all music sound "good", in a way that masks the fact that on occasion real life music can be startling and even briefly unsettling, you might ask yourself whether the "overly analytical" character you ascribe to VPI is at least in part an indication that the VPI is doing a better job of conveying all the information on an LP. The VPI may be right on the money, whereas the Linn may be a little to sweet for its own good. I am only talking about how each of us has to analyze why we hear the way we hear; I candidly admit I have no experience with actual home ownership of either company's products.

You should try to listen to all of the tables you have, so that you don't have regrets later on. Once you have done that, sell the tables that aren't your top choice. After all how many turntables can you listen to at the same time? It sounds like you prefer "musical" presentations, and may want to save some money by using an MM cart.
With all the money you have from this process get a killer phono stage.

Which Sumiko arm is on the Sota?
If it is "The Arm"(rather than one of the cheaper Jelco made Sumiko arms) then I would hang onto it and maybe get the Sota serviced at the factory.

In response to your questions about cartridges, there are two which I'd recommend highly and are under your $2000 budget. 1) Lyra Delos. Bought this recently for my VPI Aries 1 and love it. 2) ZYX R100-02H. Just paired this with a Rega P25 and am still breaking it in, but it sounds awesome. Just my thoughts. Sounds like you have some decisions to make about which table(s) to keep ...

I'm not an vinyl expert but unless you enjoy tinkering w your 'tables, I'd second/third the idea of getting one table, but I think you might focus on one that can handle 2 or 3 arms or get an arm w interchangeable headshells or arm wands.

Thank you, everyone. Really interesting thoughts, great food for thought. Lewm, Concerning the VPI vs. Linn, you're right, I'm sure. Personally, I prefer the more flattering to the analytical. I still listen to Charlie Parker records that were recorded with a wire spool recorder from the men's room-anything that flatters those recordings is just dandy with me... I've been a professional musician for a bit more than 40 years now, and I like to get to the music, ascribing to the Ellingtonian philosophy that there are two kinds of music-good and bad. That applies to engineers as well, unfortunately. One engineer in particular comes to mind...he had the remarkable good fortune to record some of the best jazz players the world will ever hear, and his engineering skill was, well, to be generous, very, very marginal. "Criminal" hits closer to the mark without overstatement. So I'll take a bit of flattery with playback, because in spite of the ghastly recording quality of those records I still want to hear what those guys played. This guy is also responsible for the necessity that any preamp I own MUST have a "mono" button.

The real irony with him is that he NEVER got any better!!!

I digress-let me put my main question this way-considering what I have right now, what cartridges do you all like? As I said in my first post, I'm a "flat earther"-Naim through and through: 82, 2-Hicaps & NAPSC, 2-135's and a 250 biamping SBL's through a Naxo. Old stuff in good shape, nothing too fancy. Works pretty good, though. Thanks again, everybody. Sorry I went off about...well, you probably know who I was ranting about.

It's the Jelco, I'm sure, from the pictures of the Arm I've seen. I must say, though, I like the Sota design. I like having pitch control, for one thing, and the combination of the suspension and the weight of the table seem to me to be a good idea. The arm I have is the FT-4 or FT-3; should I consider a different arm?