New TT for ~$1500

Not sure what a poster meant by you will "lose" on a belt drive turntable at the $1500 price point...if I were you I would go for either the pro-ject x2 or move up to the new classic Evo @ $1599. I own the classic sb and replaced the bluepoint no 2 with the Hana el and it's the best turntable I've owned...to each his own, belt drive, direct drive...I personally have to be happy with the way something looks as well as performs, and the classic sb or evo have it all over the technics, unless you like the DJ look, i don't. 

Tell that to Michael Fremer, his "belt drive" turntable costs as much as a luxury car....I disagree, there is nothing wrong with a well designed 1500-2000 buck belt driven turntable! I have owned several in this price range and they all sounded great.

"Sounded great" for you, but you can’t even adjust VTA on those cheap tonearms

Really, where have you read that?? The pro-ject 9, 9c or 9cc all have adjustable VTA! You loosen two allen screws at the base of tonearm mount. Pro-ject provides a shortened allen key to do this. They also have adjustable azimuth via a grub screw near the bearing yoke......wow! Talk about misinformed! The pro-ject aluminum (9), carbon fiber/aluminum (9c), and the carbon fiber 9cc are ALL better arms than the cheap S tonearm used on the technics. The only advantage of the technics is vta on the fly, that’s it. Also, a one piece tonearm sounds better than one with a detachable headshell. The technics does not have azimuth adjustment as far as I know, unless there is play in the detachable headshell. The entire arm on the pro- ject can be rotated to adjust azimuth. Also, Linn chose the pro-ject 9cc arm for their current Linn Majik turntable....it is a $700 arm, Linn did not think it was a sh*tty tonearm!