Newbie turntable Upgrade


So I broke my cardinal rule about not going down the Vinyl Rabbit-hole, now this Alice-in-Wonderland owns a Fluance RT85, 4,count them, FOUR phonostages (Parasound XRM, Darlington Labs, Sutherland , and a Waxwing to feed my dac) Ortofon 2M Blue, and Bronze, and a Denon DL-110 cartridge along with a bunch of decent jazz and classic rock lp's. Now the need to upgrade the turntable has risen. Looking for suggestions that doesn't exceed $2K usd.

I value your opinions. 

ericrhodes1

Thorens has a DD with replaceable headshell. Anyone here have any experience with them? 

New? what model?

I loved my Vintage TD124 with SME arm, but my springy wood floors made too much vertical motion for it's bearing design.

Steve Leung at VAS had me make them half a dozen custom wood plinths for the TD125 model.

I agree with whoever it was who said that unless you are into vintage stuff just for the thrill (and the difficulties), I would stay away from vintage TTs, at least for now.  This is in some ways hypocritical of me, as I own 5 of them.  But I DID deliberately seek them out for the fun of it.  Anyway, if you keep score, you have had more recommendations for the 1200GR than anything else.  Why consider a Thorens DD (first one they have ever made so far as I know) when a more obvious choice is the 1200GR?  If you are in it for the looks, then pick a TT for looks, or buy a wood surround for your 1200GR.

@elliottbnewcombjr 

Us Technics owners are very sensitive about our precious 1200s.

Kevin is a great guy.  Never met him but he has been very generous with his advice on the phone over the years. I would love to hear his system. I don't think there is anyone in the more knowledgeable about  the Technics 1200 line.