These are all great tables mentioned here. The worst will sound better than the best with very minor set up differences. Learn to align your cartridge and make minor adjustments in VTA. No one can do this for you, they don't have your ears and sound preferences. Make sure your room is good. A very modest system in a good room will sound better than a mega buck system in a poor room. A good dealer can be of great help with initial setup, making sure your arm is installed correctly.
Every day I see another turntable recommendation...
After digging into this topic, I am convinced now I need to go a bit higher on this first vinyl set up. I think all in, I am prepared at this point to go up to $5k, for the table alone, not including arm or cartridge.
But frankly, being on this forum is like drinking from an information firehose. I have learned a bunch and yet somehow, I am less convicted than before.
With that in mind, to narrow down the decision, I am want to restrict myself to things I can buy, hear and, if necessary, service locally. My local dealers stock, AMG, AVM, Basis, Clearaudio, Michell, Musichall, Pro-ject, Rega, VPI, so I am likely restricted to those brands. I am certain my view will change by the end of this thread.