Help me to choose turntable below 1600$.

Cheap belt-drive Rega and Pioneer PLX-1000 DD (made for dj use) are total junk sh**t compared to vintage direct drive decks IMO. When i touched that Pioneer PLX-1000 it is not even the SL1200, but a plastic toy. If someone prefer those plastic lightweight decks over the "real" vintage machines then i don’t know what to say. This is exactly what’s going on in the Hi-End business nowadays when the products are overpriced and ugly or cheaper, but looks like a plastic toys and still ugly. The best decks were designed in the 70s and 80s, they are reasonably priced today compared to modern Hi-End. I’m a big fan of Luxman PD-444 and Technics SP10mk2, to beat those decks i will have to invest astronomical amount of money that i would rather spend of cartridges and tonearms. And i don’t know any other DD turntables designed better than Luxman PD-444 by Micro Seiki to use with 2 tonearms! It’s a State Of The Art machines.

I think for $1600 the best way to go is: Technics SP20, Victor TT-71 or similar Denon DD with custom made plinth paired with vintage tonearms like Victor UA-7045 or Luxman TA-1 (made by Micro Seiki) and MM cartridges.

Yes take that direct drive TT 
  So you can hear all the Wow &.flutter. 

Nonsense !

Wow,  alot of opinion above, not backed by facts.... I have heard excellent versions of Belt and Direct Drive.  As a dealer, I have sat in front of multiple Walker, Oracle and Technics Tables.  All 3 of these set up correctly can be very satisfying. The is no hard core proof that overall, either direct drive or belt drive is better....
Then I posted that I am selling the SP25.. another post is all about, you must purchase an SP20...
The Best Technics tables were the SP10mk II and SP10mk III....
The SL1200 pro table is what put Technics in the record books for tables.  It has its flaws for audiophiles, but it is highly modifiable and done correctly is very nice sounding,  Its arm is its weakness...Now what about The SP15, The SP20 and SP25.... The SP 15 Is more or less a studio version of the original SP10,  The SP20, Is a Japanese Low end issue of a SP10MkII.  It is very much compatible to the SP15 and SP25..... The SP25 was made for broadcast.  It fits the same Plinth as the others,  but uses the motor assembly of the SL1200 pro table...All 3 of these are direct drive quartz lock.  I have found that proper damping along with a good arm and cable,  all 3 of these after good mods, outperformed a standard SP 10 and were closer to the MKII or MKIII versions... My SP25 that I have listed is flat out excellent at its price range. Also,  the old Oracle tables were also really nice tables when set up correctly. 

aeinstein: your comment ’’Marantz TT15 - merely a rebadged Clearaudio turntable with an $800 cartridge’’ you make it sound like the rebadged status is a negative thing or something not to be taken seriously.

In this case, Marantz does not hide the made in Germany Clearaudio pedigree, and this ’’rebadging’’ actually is a nice upgrade from Clearaudio’s own Emotion turntable. Marantz specified better ’’feet’’, a thicker acrylic platter, great styling and included a version of Clearaudio’s very nice Satisfy arm, I mean this arm is a beauty and sells by itself for a good sum.

http://www.needledoctor.com/Clearaudio-Satisfy-Tonearm

Not saying the Marantz is the be all - end all, but for the price with this level of jewelry, (even the aircraft acrylic used is incredible) it is a screaming deal and all the turntable many will ever need.

And stick a $ 10.00 micro IKEA lamp behind the platter, and watch the glow....as I said, a no-brainer and quite a conversation piece.

Regas, Clearaudio and VPI are of course great buys in this price range.