Buying a new TT today

so how did we get here? The OP has a budget of $2K, which sounds fine to me. Now we're talking about 7-10K systems....?

Come on guys -- start your own thread and argue all day about DD vs belt drive and the P10 vs the P8....

Regards!

Hello everyone, OP here...

First, I want to say that I’ve read every response and WOW! What a blessing to have such a deep and diverse base of knowledge that people like myself can tap and is freely given! My hat is off to all of you who have responded... THANK YOU!!!!!!

Second, I’m sorry it has taken so long to respond to all of you! My apologies....
Last Thursday I did go out and look at TT’s at two great shops here in Colorado Springs. I spent 8 hours between the two shops and they were fantastic with me, so I tip my hat to the both of them too!

So to answer the big question..... Yes I did buy a TT aaaaaaaand I bought a cartridge to upgrade the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon.
So I asked the question on which way to go and ended up going both ways lol I just had to see what improvement could be made to the Pro-Ject and if it could match a TT that costs over three times as much? We shall see....

Now, I checked out Rega 8, VPI Scout, Music Hall 7.3, and the Marantz TT—15s1...
I really wanted to look at the VPI Prime Scout! I was very interested in it but my one shop here said they couldn’t tell me how long it would take to get but, it could be some time and they just didn’t know how long it would be? The second shop said they couldn’t get them anymore at all? Some will say internet but after the Covid shut down I really wanted to give my business to my local shops!
Anyway I missed out on the Prime Scout, maybe some day?

At the end of the day, even with its quirkiness, I went with synergy and the cartridge, and the arm, and yes it’s good looks! I bought the Marantz...
Aaaaaand I bought the Ortofon Bronze for the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon.

So I know that the Marantz wasn’t talked about but once in this thread so I’m thinking it’s not thought of much anymore but my guy at the Sound Shop here in the Springs who is a vinyl guy raves about it and KI did develop it along side and at the same time of my Integrated soooooo.....
Im hoping, praying lol, that I get that big step up and it has that same wow factor as the Pro-Ject did when I first heard it!

Thanks again everyone and please post up, good or bad, your thoughts and insights of my two purchases!

@gasbose 
I just realized that not only were you the last to post and to try to bring this back to the original discussion, but you were the only one to recommend doing both....
Buy a TT and a cartridge for the Pro-Ject! Nice job at reading my future lol I might appoint you my sage lol 

Well, it's certainly a stylish deck. Looks like a Clearaudio rebadge, very pretty. 

As you say it will be interesting to see just how big a step up it is from the now upgraded Debut Carbon fitted with the Bronze cart.

It would be great if you can keep us posted. Most of us have been there ourselves but it's still fascinating to see how others approach the same journey.

Hey Chakster - you may be correct about the speed of belt drive tables in general if their power supplies are not great, but on all Rega's mid tables and above, the speed is fine with external PSUs. I have an app that measures it - right on the money for 33 1/3 and 45 rpm speeds.

We're reading about speed stability issues here on audiogon very often, also about grounding issues and many other issues with belt drive turntable at that cost. 

How often are you gonna change the belt to make sure your speed is stable over the years? This is a weak part of belt drives too. Another weak part is very low torque.