Good automatic TT's

I'd probably just get an old Sony, Pioneer, or some such auto table from the 70's for cheap and put on a decent Shure or AT cart. If you got a buzz on to the extent that the hands are a shakin', you probably won't hear the difference in relative sound quality between different auto tables anyway! ;-)

For a while, I actually put away all my high-end stuff, got myself a used heavy-duty Pioneer integrated with phono stage - late '70, two transformers and so on - bought a pair of decent "audiophile" JBLs (really, they were quite good, small two ways), these days Athena techonologies answers the need - and got myself an Elac, which is quite a well-built idler-wheel drive with a smooth, heavy-duty motor. It sounded quite good, mounted with a Shure, and I laughed every time it turned itself off, for a year. This system truly rocked, and was quite detailed without being bright. I still miss its music-intensive non-audiophile style. There is some information out there about the Elac and also Dual idler-wheel drives, which even the late, great Listener magazine deemed good 'tables, devoting a how-to-restore article to them. Idler-wheels have truly good bass, too. Make sure there's no rocking in the bearing, make sure all the headshell gear is there, and check the wheel for flat spots. These'll blow your socks off.

I have a 1980 vintage Sony PS-X800, which is linear tracking with biotracer (servo controlled) arm, and it works to perfection, audiowise and functionally. The X800 is rare and expensive used, but similar Sony linear tracking tables without the biotracer arm are common on E-Bay.

Of course the most practical solution would be to play a CD. When you are two sheets to the wind you probably can't hear the vinyl magic anyway.

Sounds like you don't need a changer or replay feature. So the perfect choice would be a DUAL CS 5000 stops & lifts at end and has cue lever. 3 spd. Around 300-400 Look here,
Audioweb or ebay for one. Denons are nice too but not as reliable. Good Luck finding a good one

Thanks for all the great suggestions (except staying sober and listening to CD's ;)). My Maplenoll Ariadne Signature has no cueing arm and you want all your wits about you when you get the air-bearing tone arm, oil-filled trough and 50 lb platter going. Maybe I need a "designated driver" to take responsibility for the TT but that would take some of the fun out of it. BTW matching wines or whiskies to music is a lot of fun - but I digress. Any other auto TT candidates out there?