@yesiam_a_pirate Here's another two cents from the peanut gallery.
I've only owned 2 turntables over the past 53 years. So, as you can readily surmise, I cannot claim a great deal of direct personal experience with regard to TTs. I do not "upgrade" my components nearly as often as some audiophiles. My approach has always been to research like crazy before an "upgrade" or major purchase, audition the components I'm interested in and purchase the best performing & most reliable component I can find within whatever budget I set for myself. Frankly, I always go over budget. The last time I shopped for a TT was several years ago. My projected budget back then was around 2K but I eventually almost doubled that. More than a few reviews said the Mofi Ultradeck+M was about as good as it got for under 5K. None of the shops around my neck of the woods had Mofi decks back then. So, I wasn't able to audition one. The only two TTs that I had read about and was able to fairly audition were a Rega P3 with Ortofon 2M Blue and a Marantz TT-15si with standard ClearAudio Virtuoso Ebony MM. With good, clean vinyl recordings, both these TTs were outstanding.
After months of research and some back & forth with Mikey Fremer, I whittled my final punch list down to: Rega P6 (with Ortofon 2M Bronze or Black) + Marantz TT-15s1 (with ClearAudio Virtuoso Ebony MM) + Mofi Ultradeck+M + ClearAudio Concept (with Virtuoso Ebony MM). I went with the Mofi deck. This was the only time I've ever purchased a major component without auditioning it in a shop, first. I have not regretted this purchase. It is everything the reviewers said it was and continue to say it is.
A word of caution about Rega decks. Rega is a proponent of low mass design TTs. Make sure you have an absolutely rock-solid surface to park any TT on, especially a Rega and especially if you like to play your music loudly on occasion.
Also, as whart has alluded to here, there will be other accessories to plan and budget for (e.g. stylus cleaning stuff; record brush or other dust mitigating equipment; anti-static record sleeves; stylus pressure gauge & possibly other calibration equipment; etc.). Most importantly, I would suggest planning on some sort of record cleaning equipment. Even new vinyl should be cleaned before play. You can do this manually, easily and inexpensively with a Knosti Disco Anti-Stat, a Spin Clean or something like these. I like the Knost because it uses goat hair brushes. Last I read, the Spin Clean used microfiber pads. I think they may have replaced those, since then, with goat hair brushes, which provide deeper cleaning. If you want to and can spend the bucks, think ultrasonic cleaning (e.g. Degritter Mark II).
Good Luck!
