Help Picking a turntable

$3,000!?!  You're throwing away money.  Spend 1/2 that on the speakers.

Another tack... I upgraded my Cocktail Audio X40 digital front end with Dave Sculte at The Upgrade Company in Michigan and have significantly improved audio quality and noise floor in this unit. These upgrades fully shield all internal board components cabling and wiring from EMI RFI . I can highly recommend Dave, his customer service and free appraisals are very helpful.

Gosh , Lots of well thought-out information & suggestions. 50 yrs + of turntable usage has educated me to carefully spend resources regardless of new or used. Materals, design & age are some of the factors that need your consideration. Many turntables of the 70's are nearing the end of useful resister & cap life as are speed controls. Age related issues may also apply to tonearm bearings.  Be awaire that todays used bargin could fail or not be as sonicaly rewarding due to age related issues.
 Keeping in mind my biases I recommend the following. Both the GEM (George Merill) Turntable & the Pioneer PLX- 1000 offer considerable value for new to vinyl folks. External speed controllers are a near-must & Schitts Mani phono amp is a terrific value. Darkstar1 made some excellent suggestions that all vinyl-heads should consider. Becoming a in-house expert for turntable set up & vinyl cleaning is important. Best of luck

Hello everyone,
I was able to go to Soundings and audition the turntable Rod (the owner of Soundings) thought would be the best one: it was a Dr. Feickert Woodpecker (I don't remember the type of arm or cartridge).  He was using a Boulder phono stage, Boulder pre-amp and Boulder amp with Rockport Avior speakers.  While this is all above my price point, I must say it was by far and away the best music I have ever heard -- it was simply an amazing experience to hear.  If anyone is going to RMAF, I think Soundings is working in conjunction with Boulder Amps and will have the Rockports and the turntable there with the Boulder amp/pre-amp.  IF so, it is definitely worth stopping by that room, or if you are in Denver stopping by Soundings and listening.  I just have never in my life heard anything that even comes close to how amazing that system sounded.  The first album we played was Paul Simon's Graceland and I have never heard it sound anywhere near that good; then we moved on to Keb Mo and then a little John Lee Hooker.  There was a huge difference between the vinyl and cd --I was shocked by how huge the difference was.  The biggest downside was that it made my system at home sound kind of crappy in comparison.  This was my first listening test of vinyl and if this is how good it can sound I think I will be getting a turntable and some LP's in the near future.  I still have to look around a bit: as much as I loved the system that Soundings had, it is  quite a bit more than I wanted to spend.  For all of those out there that say vinyl is the best, I now understand where you are coming from.  Im still not sure what I am going to do, and need to do some more research because of the cost, but listening to the vinyl on that system was truly amazing. 

Again, thanks to everyone for all of their helpful and thoughtful input.    

It is great you got to experience that......to give you a reference as you move forward.......

I have heard the Woodpecker........and have found it to be a versatile table, but a fairly old design......
In my opinion, I think you could do a lot better.....
The problem is the Woodpecker is 6500 with no arm and there is no way an arm will do that table justice under the 2K mark, then you get to add a cartridge......and you're looking at a grand not to embarass the 8500.00 table you just invested in.....

Alternatively, although you'd have to go away from Sounding's offerings......you could do a new VPI Prime turntable, which includes the 3D tonearm and get something very much on par with that 8500.00 setup for a fraction of the price (mid 3K)....

The trick is getting VPI's opinion on which cartridges that 3D arm bring out the best in.....(I believe anything from Ortofon in the low to mid price ranges really love the 3D tonearm)

This would give you some $$ left over to do a phono stage up right and not as an afterthought........