Direct Drive

I listen to a lot of records and have only vintage DD. Three of them. All Denon. 55F with Unitrac and DL301; DP47 with Grado Sonata and Stanton 881s; and DP59 with DL301 mkii. I doubt I will change although I did think a VPI was equal or a tad better but at what cost an inconvenience and finickiness. Have tried Music Hall 5.1 (years ago), Rega P6, Mofi Ultradeck and found none of them as good as the 47 let alone the 55. I did have a Technics about 15 years ago. Was not impressed. Although I guess the new ones are much better. If you can find a used vintage Denon in good shape for half the price of a new Technics 1500 then consider it. I got all mine before turntable inflation. But considering how much better they were than new belt ones they may still be a deal. If you have 8k for a Basis or the space and patience for a VPI, maybe you will come ahead sonically. But at midfi you won't do better than a used Denon DP, the better vintage models.

@snilf I've been modifying my TD145 MK1. It's a dedicated mono table. I just need to buy and install an Origin Live tonearm and an EMT mono cartridge and then I'm done. Right now I have the original but upgraded TP-16 and an AT 33 Mono Anniversary cartridge. I have to admit certain pressings sound very good but the end goal should smoke what I have now.

I second @blisshifi's recommendation: Vintage Kenwood KD 500s are good, affordable DD turntables. Mine has a Fidelity Research FR 54 tonearm and an Adcom HC/E cartridge on it and it is one of the more musical combos I own. Not everyone appreciates the composite plinth's look, but they do sound great!

Congratulations, Mahler123. Really looking forward to your listening impressions when you get the deck - and the stylus upgrade is a good move.

and a Clearaudio Concept which was boring as hell.

what did Clearaudio have to define it as "boring"?