One turntable with two arms, or two turntables with one each - which would you prefer?

Thanks everyone. It's cool to read everyone's take on the question.

I don't know how to answer the question for myself - yet, at least. The reason I'd be interested in having a second setup is that I love the idea of having setups optimized for different sonic signatures, but don't really want to deal with resetting vta, vtf, etc. every time I change cartridges.

As I've thought about it off and on throughout the day, and read others' responses, I've honed in on a couple questions I need to answer for myself: do I really need a mono cart (same situation here @dogberry) and/or do I want both a suspended and non-suspended table for variety? I've only ever lived with non-suspended tables and am curious about suspended tables, lately.

In any case, I fully agree on the importance of a good phono stage. I'd be inclined to go with a single phono stage with multiple inputs, and get variety from table/tonearm/cartridge combos.

@noromance, I checked out your system. Great solution for vinyl storage! I'm getting too old to crawl around on the floor trying to read spines.

Thanks for the interesting conversation, everyone. I've been reading with interest all the responses.

This thread, for me, was not so much a 'tell me what to do' or 'help me make a decision' type thread, more conversation starter, born of a genuine interest in how others approach their desired analog playback chain. I don't think there's any universal 'right' answer - just what works for each of us. It's interesting to see the responses.

I will say that my interest in the topic arose as I started to think about a second, all analog system. I've had a turntable in my system for at least 20 years, now, about as long as I've been in the audio hobby.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've assembled that second system - with the assistance of some great dealers and distributors. They're out there. Shout out to the teams at Kevalin Audio, Next Level HiFi, Bluebird and Nashville HiFi (no affiliation, just a happy customer - they all have been fantastic to work with and I think they're worth knowing about).

For now I've landed on one turntable and tonearm in my main system, and one in my second system. Neither of my current tables really has an option for a second tonearm, so I will look to add another table - maybe with two tonearms, maybe not - to the second system once my checkbook has recovered (!!!!). Adding a dedicated option for a mono cartridge in the second system is my next goal.

In any case, thanks for the responses all. Keep 'em coming. And happy spinning.