Turntable Purchase Suggestion

I would see if the Final Signature Acoustic Tool remains available at 1750 here on audiogon. It is a superb table for the money and is made of real metal and not plastic! Add a quality tonearm (rb300 Incognito wired, Kerry or Michell heavyweight, and a custom VTA adjuster) and you are off to the races.

Another excellent value is the Scheu Cello which can be had for about a grand with rega rb250 or 800 w/o arm. Only can be ordered direct from Scheu.

Of the decks you mention above I like the P9 and the Spacedeck. But neither would be my first choice. Another excellent choice is the Teres which you will get some votes on. The entry level Teres is 1890 plus shipping/tax. It is a wonderful table and has the advantage of plenty of support from the Teres fanatics (er, fans...) on this forum and is built in the USA so you can puff up your chest and buy USA!

The 245 Teres is probably a better turntable but at a cost of close to another grand. What you get, though, is a finished rosewood base and armpod rather than an unfinished birch base and unfinished acrylic platter. you would have to put the finish on these items. The rosewood looks much better than the birch and if the user claims are believed it sounds materially better than the birch, too.

If you are a novice I'd stay away from unipivot tonearms which the Vector is. The Rega 1000 is a great arm but very expensive as is the P9. For the cost of a new P9 you can have a Teres 245.

Good luck.

Carl

Meyerb, you can add the Aesthetix Rhea to your list of possible phono stages. I have one that works very well with my 50SE. Probably a bit cheaper than a P10se as well.

I would suggest looking a bit higher up the Basis food chain at at least a 2500. I had a 2001 with a Vector and it is a very good combination. IMO/IME the 2001 is somewhat light in the bass reproduction. May break your budget, though.

I would recommend a Verdier Plantine table, Morch arm and Koetsu cardridge. I have had this set up for over ten years and had very little adjustments and this set up can hold it own against any set up. I also use a Rhea.

Going against the conventional grain, I would strongly suggest you look at a Scheu Premier II (Eurolab) TT, in the config seen here i.e. with the highest platter. Alternatively, a Teres TT that you can peruse here. In both cases, a Schroeder arm would be most advisable; the drawback with these arms is the waiting time... Other arms, recommendable for both TTs include the Scheu Tacco, and its cheaper stablemate Cantus, the Origin Live, the Moerch (either unipivot or regular bearings).
This will offer an excellent sounding TT set-up, for a reasonable outlay (by hi-end standards). I would further recommend you start your vinyl journey with a good, but not outrageously expensive, cartridge (Denon 103, Shelter, Clearaudio Virtuoso, etc, many other good choices out there).

Phonos are a real problem; few perform really well and those are frighteningly expensive (see some excellent choices above). Among the less expensive reasonably good performers that I happen to know are, the EAR phono (tube) and the ASR mini basis (ss); of course there are diy choices out there too (if you're into that).
Cheers

Organic? If you want a fuss-free no hassle table I would recommend the Rega P-9. If you feel that constant adjutements are one of the real joys of tts, look elsewhere. More so if you think that VTA adjustment is of capital importance.

Teres 245, Table
Origin live Encounter, Tonearm
Shelter 501/901 cartridge
Whest Ps.20, phono

As another newbie, still building my turntable, my opinion may not carry much weight, but here it is anyway. :-D

I will "third" the recommendation for you to get a Teres turntable. I could only afford the Model 160, birch base and lead-filled acrylic platter, but it is still pretty impressive. I also got the Teres VTA adapter to make the adjustments a lot easier, and the battery option.
Chris of Teres is very easy to work with and loves what he is doing. In his opinion, the Model 160 actually sounds closer to the Model 255, i.e., better than the 245. With your budget, I'd say go for the 255!

I auditioned various tonearms with Chris, including the Morch UP-4 & DP-6. The Morch DP-6 is a definite winner; I got the DP-6 with a 12" armwand. I matched it with the Zyx R100H cartridge - their basic model, but all I could afford. It sounds wonderful with the turnatble and the Morch. You would be able to get the Zyx Fuji, or maybe even the Airy, if you decided to go with Zyx. Mehran of Sorasound sells the Zyx right here on Audiogon and he will give you a great price - I paid about $200 below retail price for my cartridge.

I don't know much about the phono stages; I ended up getting a Holfi Battriaa Signature phono stage because the price was right, but if you can afford it, I would say go with a tube phono stage. The Hagermann Coronet sounds really nice

Well, I started with a $3000 dollar budget and more than doubled it - I'm probably going to have to get a part time job to feed my habit - but I am very happy.

Good luck and enjoy your search for audio nirvana!

Brand new SME arms (M2 and 309 and M2-12 and 312) can be ordered brand new from UK for 1175 and 1600 (12" versions; 9" less expensive) from Vantage Audio inc shipping. That is a LOT less than here in USA. Of course, you won't have a dealer to install your arm and cartridge as part of the deal.

I am ordering one of the two SME arms shortly for 855 delivered from Hong Kong; that is even less than from UK.

I second the rec of the Scheu Premier II. I purchased one with the dual arm plinth and 80mm platter. It was about 2000 inc shipping. This is less expensive than any Teres (non kit) by far. Having said that I would prefer a Teres 245 but cannot justify the additional money over the Scheu.

I've got the Scheu Premier MK 2 and I highly recommend it. I have the Moerch UP4 arm (a good match for this table). Don't know much about TERES . I'm sure you'll be happy with either one.

I recently learned that Thomas Scheu killed himself a few months ago R. I. P. I heard the company will continue on, but I'm not sure what the current procedure is to order one of the Scheu tables.

Same as always; send an email to Scheu and Dr Feickert will answer your questions. The prices seem somewhat flexible is my experience. Not much but somewhat. I had to use a bank wire transfer to effect the purchase as they do not accept Paypal and they are in Germany.