Pindac, I think you making life far more complicated than it needs to be.
First of all, how a turntable sounds under optimal conditions is not the only important characteristic to pay attention to. There are other issues that are very important such as how well is the cartridge isolated from the environment and how well does the tonearm track a warped record? How nice is the turntable to use? Can you put your hand down on it to cue a record?
Much of a turntable's and tonearm's performance can be determined by just looking at them with a critical eye. They are in truth very simple mechanical devices. All good turntables with the same cartridge mounted under optimal conditions are going to sound pretty much the same...except maybe to audiophiles to whom hearing is synonymous to hallucinating.
First of all, how a turntable sounds under optimal conditions is not the only important characteristic to pay attention to. There are other issues that are very important such as how well is the cartridge isolated from the environment and how well does the tonearm track a warped record? How nice is the turntable to use? Can you put your hand down on it to cue a record?
Much of a turntable's and tonearm's performance can be determined by just looking at them with a critical eye. They are in truth very simple mechanical devices. All good turntables with the same cartridge mounted under optimal conditions are going to sound pretty much the same...except maybe to audiophiles to whom hearing is synonymous to hallucinating.

