I just took a quick look at the listings here at Audiogon to see what is available that might work for you. There are a few VPIs, an HW-19 MKIII listed at $1500 with a Jelco arm that if it appeals and is in good shape would probably be my first choice. I have one playing the Goldberg Variations with an SME 3009 Series II w/fixed head shell as I compose this note. I have owned this TT since buying it new in 1986. I also have an HW-40 and a Technics SL 1200 GAE so my ears are trained by those references. I had a Prime that was heavily modified that I traded for the HW-40. I never could get happy with the Prime for some reason. TTs are personal, nobody can put their finger on exactly what they like about the ones they like. One other thing I should mention is that my GAE has a removable headshell, my VPIs both have fixed headshell arms. My SME arm had a removable headshell, but last year when I had the arm rebuilt I had it converted to fixed by SME Canada. I also set up a lot of TTs for friends. Across the board fixed headshell tonearms outperform removable ones. They track better, have lower distortion for a given VTF, which is measurable and audible particularly heavy bass on the inner grooves of records that have material recorded there. There is no question that having a removable headshell is convenient, though, so you will have to decide what is more important to you, optimal performance vs. greater convenience. In addition to the HW-19 MKIII, there is a MKIV also worthwhile and there is at least one Classic 3 that might fit. I didn’t see any at present, but you should also look for a Technics SL1200 or 1300.
