With your substantial investment in vinyl it's worth buying a table that will give you a great analog listening experience. You will need good speed stability, isolation from resonance and an affordable cartridge and phone stage.
The Teres 160 at $2240 is a great turntable that offers rock solid speed stability and the lead loaded acrylic platter works great for the money and is well worth the extra $ over the 150.
A Rega RB250 based tonearm is the way to go. If you're in the US look no further than the Expressimo Mongoose RB250 (there's a link from the Teres site). I have one and for $640 it's stunning value for money. It has deep tight bass and is very neutral; because it's medium mass it works with a wide range of cartridges.
I'm very much in love with the Denon DL-103 at around $200. It's dynamic and exciting to listen to, it's very tolerant of set-up and it punches well above it's weight.
For a phono stage I would suggest you look here to buy a used EAR834P for around $650. It's a tube circuit but doesn't sound it - it's pacey, neutral and very relaxing to listen to.
If these are beyond your budget then I would suggest looking at a Technics SL1200 from Kabusa. It's not particularly fashionable but, being a direct drive deck, it delivers great speed stability and freedom from resonance. It comes with a tonearm and you would be best fitting a moving magnet.
I wouldn't look beyond the Grado Prestige Gold. It would be a good match for the arm on the Technics and because of the moving iron design it's a very responsive cart that sounds very attractive. Because it's a high output cart you could save on the phono stage by buying a Bellari VP129 for $200.
The other alternatives are diy (check out Bix) or used. There's a thread on this list about the Lenco L75 with a title including Home Despot.
The Teres 160 at $2240 is a great turntable that offers rock solid speed stability and the lead loaded acrylic platter works great for the money and is well worth the extra $ over the 150.
A Rega RB250 based tonearm is the way to go. If you're in the US look no further than the Expressimo Mongoose RB250 (there's a link from the Teres site). I have one and for $640 it's stunning value for money. It has deep tight bass and is very neutral; because it's medium mass it works with a wide range of cartridges.
I'm very much in love with the Denon DL-103 at around $200. It's dynamic and exciting to listen to, it's very tolerant of set-up and it punches well above it's weight.
For a phono stage I would suggest you look here to buy a used EAR834P for around $650. It's a tube circuit but doesn't sound it - it's pacey, neutral and very relaxing to listen to.
If these are beyond your budget then I would suggest looking at a Technics SL1200 from Kabusa. It's not particularly fashionable but, being a direct drive deck, it delivers great speed stability and freedom from resonance. It comes with a tonearm and you would be best fitting a moving magnet.
I wouldn't look beyond the Grado Prestige Gold. It would be a good match for the arm on the Technics and because of the moving iron design it's a very responsive cart that sounds very attractive. Because it's a high output cart you could save on the phono stage by buying a Bellari VP129 for $200.
The other alternatives are diy (check out Bix) or used. There's a thread on this list about the Lenco L75 with a title including Home Despot.