Turntables

I got the P8 when they first came out to replace my P5 (did the arm first). The arm especially is excellent. It is clean and adds nothing to the sound, which is what you want in a table.

Not sure if the P10 is worth almost double the money. I have mine sitting on a Townshend seismic platform on top of a wall mounted shelf. The Townshend improved the sound incredibly (but created foot falls with the frequency that footsteps interfering with the pods frequency created on the Townshend, and the shelf got rid of that as  recommended by Max Townshend himself (RIP)). My suspended wood floor over a crawl space creates all kinds of vibrations.

I looked into upgrading the arm and someone who sells Rega (OEM) arms who is very familiar with both said if the table is well isolated from vibrations, the extra $1500 or so for the arm isn't worth it. If that is true, I would say the P10 is not nearly as good a value. That's only the one guy's opinion though, and I am sure the RB 3000 is better than my RB880. When I originally upgraded the RB700 on the P5 to the RB880, the difference was startling. A friend of mine went from the P6 to the P8 to the P10 (thanks to Upscale Audio letting him keep exchanging them) - he said the P10 was "a little" better than the P8. He has since traded that in on an esoteric table with a linear tracking arm that is way more expensive. I like simplicity and am not at all an equipment hobbyist. Just a music lover.

If you are set on spending that much more, a lot of other tables are under consideration, but you will have to deal with matching arms and tables like the JE Michell, Dr. Feikert and SOTAs. I like integrated arm/table combos/designs, so the next one that comes to mind is an SME, but even their entry level table is quite a bit more than the P10. The Rega has no removable head shell and the wiring is straight through integrated into the RCA cable that plugs into the phone stage. Simplicity once again and no points of connection/distortion. And save money on tonearm wires and head shells.

Cartridge weight is more of an issue than height as you can use a spacer under the arm if needed. The light arm is better with light cartridges. I find the Rega MCs overpriced and use a van den Hul MC One Special with a well matched Sutherland LPS phono stage. For some reason, I needed a spacer on the P5, but not the P8. You are talking millimeters here and probably the difference between record widths is more that the spacers. Rega's philosophy is to not worry about changing VTA on the fly, and because of a decently long tonearm, that is a factor that should not be audible if the height is set to an average of maybe a standard or 180g record.

Enjoy!

That's not a P10. It's an RP-10 - different arm, etc. P10 is much improved. P8 will beat this one I believe.

If you can properly isolate the table from vibration, I’d go with Rega. If that necessitates a wall shelf, that can be a deal killer.I’d avoid a unipivot arm and buy from a local dealer for support. Not a big deal for other components, but for turntables IMO, it is  must unless you are a hobbyist.

The turntable can certainly affect the sound negatively by transmitting (and possibly increasing) internal and external vibrations.  Being the source of the sound, it is the MOST impactful component @secretguy. Not sure what you are smoking.

@secretguy - that's a big caveat, and are forgetting about the tonearm. Some TT experts think that is the most important. I put it equal to the cartridge/phono stage. When you were saying turntables are the least important, I was talking about the whole analogue front end.