I have had a number of good tts in my system through the years, including the SOTA Star Sapphire, SOTA Cosmos, Teres, and finally a hotroded Technics SP 10 mk II. You're going to buy the table that you like but don't rule things out that really deserve a listen.
You can see my Technics setup in My System. It was better than anything I had earlier and not by a little bit. You can, to a point make it look however you want, but the sonic strengths of it are worth whatever limitation you see in the cosmetics.