Dear @chauncey : Mike is rigth with him and his targets when said: " overall i would not buy or buy a tt due to vacuum. more just the overall performance. "
In the other side the vacuum hold down TT characteristics is a important " plus " in any TT at any price level. We have to remember that at the micro levels where the cartridge stylus tip is working during play exist micro-warps that puts an additional not desired " coloration " to what we are listening. The vaccum helps a lot too in the LP parts recorded at high velocities helping the stylus tip to track with more applomb and pick up better MUSIC signal from those groove modulations. Vacuum due a lot more for the quality level performance of what we are listening . No, it's not true that the vacuum can be to much effect damping as Mike said because what any one of us in any room/system need is the best damping we can achieve precisely between the LP and the TT platter/mat because is the first step in the playback overall proccess where we need try to " stop " the present feedback between that platter/LP surface developed by the stylus tip tracking and other developed micro noise/vibration down there: NEVER is to much damping down there. What we need down there is that the cartridge cantilever movements came with only the movements developed by the groove modulations ( MUSIC signal ) where this is imposible to can happens. Vacuum permit lot lower " fake MUSIC " movements in the cantilever because those overall movements are what the cartridge/transducer transform and that transducer does not knows if all those cantilever movements are only MUSIC signal modulartions but proccess all movements as if all were MUSIC signal.
R.