Most hyped turntable, tonearm, and cartridge?

At the 2018 High End show in Munich, UK-based SME announced that they had taken steps to reintroduce the classic Garrard 301 @larryi

Here is an article about "new" Garrard ***

Now for a bit of disappointing news: The new Garrard 301, with SME M2-12R tonearm and custom plinth, carries a retail price of $23,500, freight additional.

By comparison, secondhand original-issue 301s are routinely available for between $2000 and $3000, with full rebuild services ranging between $500 and $1500.

"most overhyped turntable" 

Depends on context.

Historically the most overhyped turntable would have to be the Tin Sondek. In the early days the Linn Doctor needed to visit multiple times a year to keep it stable.

On these forums the most overhyped TTs would be the 70's direct drives and their derivatives with their 70's low tech error correction circuitry inducng a lovely digital haze across the audio spectrum. No amount of fettling, magic oil or elaborate plinth can eliminate that glare.

As regards Garrard 301 there is a factual answer.
An idler wheel taking motor noise and vibration directly to the platter is clearly a bad design.

I like a bit of rumble - reminds me of the great Kingsway Hall in London where you could hear the trains rumbling along the Picadilly Line during the quiet passages.

Some might say this is preferable to the electronic haze of direct drive error correction circuitry doing its darndest to ruin your listening enjoyment.

@chakster  WOW!  Those are sure different from the original ones that were self-contained and silver with lots of speed dots on the platter for making sure the speed was set correctly.

I imagine they cost a bit, as well.  

I love vinyl, but still use an older Technics (SL-1200, but don't quote me) and a old Luxman--not sure of the number.  Both are just fine, thank-you, but I should probably get a new cartridge sometime.  Right now, I need a crossover (EC-21) but am having a heck of a time finding one!

As soon as I get that, I will work on the TTs.

Thanks for the update.  Crazy stuff...when they sold tons of TTs they were pretty cheap.  I guess today, with a very limited market, they cost more.  We used to sell several a week.  These days, who knows?

Cheers!

I was not interested in Technics DD turntables and I did not know how good they were, but I pretty much ignored them and lumped them into cheap Japanese turntable category.

Then you have to check prices for Technics SP10 mk3.

@ihcho

It was very expensive turntable and still very expensive reference class DD.

You can’t ignore Technics because almost ever record made with Technics motor involved in lacquer cutting process on the Neumann cutting lathe.

There is a Technics Direct Drive motor under the Neumann platter when the cutting stylus working on doing its magic.

Almost every record you have made with Direct Drive a few steps before it’s actually pressed.

This is the most stable and powerful drive, and this is why Direct Drive (not Idler or Belt) chosen for Neumann cutting lathe!

Think about it.

But I recently saw a lot of people using new 1200GR at under $2K, and most users seemed to be just happy about it.

GR is a compromise, the reference is SP-10R and it’s new.

Even vintage SP-10 mkII is outstanding for the money, the drive is under $2k today.
The SP-10 mk III is over $7k and new SP-10R is about the same.

Regarding Technics most of us already posted tons of information here.