Tzh, we are a Rega dealer, and we would also like to carry the Technics.
When you said immediacy you got the Rega sound vs the VPI sound.
Rega's design philosophy is the exact oppostie of the VPI which have used mass ie weighty acrylic or greater mass in their platters and plinths.
Rega's concept is to make a light weight low mass design, with the philisophy of less mass means less material to resonate, higher mass turntables and platters do ring, just tap one and you will see, and to provide flexture to dissapate energy. Light and stiff has many advantages.
The real question is how far do you want to go in terms of an end game turntable?
If I was going to go end game I would look at a Merril Wiliams Real 101.2 which is a $7k table plus arm, pretty much beats any table under $25k.
We tested one vs a $40k reference table that is the talk of the industry, and couldn't really hear an appreicable difference with the much more expensive table on a $100k reference rig.
The Merrill Williams Real Table is designed to absorb all energy being fed into the table. The plinth is made out of compressed sheets of rubber composites, the clamp uses a ball of rubber and sits on a rubber ring, even the outer clamping ring uses a rubber internal damping ring.
It doesn't look ultra cool but think of how a turntable is supposed to work, you have to isolate the groove and cartidge from the noisy world of the bearing, and the outside world's vibrational energy which is being fed back into the table, if you can use a material known to absorb mechanical energy and turn it into heat you can wick away all the noise which masks the delicate signal being picked up from the cartridge.
Over the years we have setup Linns, Sotas, Vpi, Well tempereds and many other very expensive turntables the Merrrill sounds better because it is designed systematically to absorb all energy being fed into the table, the result you can hear the cartridge for the first time.
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/merrill-williams-real-101-turntable/http://realturntable.com/Hope this helps.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
