late to the party, but my 3 cents here. many years ago, (i was only 13 and didn't know any better), i bought a new dual 1219. my step brother worked at a stereo shop, and could get anything at cost, so it was 50% off. one of my happiest audiophile days was when i literally pitched it into a dumpster after suffering with if for 25 years - its idler drive totally sucked, w/horrible wow/flutter - that you could easily see thanks to its built-in strobe. its return mechanism was totally fiddly after about a year. i don't even mind that i could have just parked it in storage and sold it to some sucker for $300 today, that thinks they're anything special. at the time, throwing it into a dumpster felt GREAT! 😁
my step-brother recommended i buy an empire 598, about the same price. i should have listened to him. because i bought one for my daughter a couple years ago, and i have a rare 498, and a 298 w/980 arm, w/the rare factory anti-skate mechanism. any of these turntables will outperform a rega p3, when properly set up, and they're pretty indestructible. (i'm familiar w/the p3 as i helped a buddy of mine set his up, and i've helped him tweak it over the years - decent deck, but not up to the performance level of the empires.) i think the empires are competitive w/pretty-much anything you could buy new for up to $3k retail. and i think the market agrees, as these have been steadily creeping up in price on the used market. my empires are damn close to my original oracle delphi (pre mk1) that's been upgraded to mkv specs and fitted w/an o-l silver taper arm and o-l dc motor kit.
my oracle:
daughter's 598:
my 298 w/980 arm:
so, anyone looking for a great deck at a relatively bargain price, keep the vintage empires in mind.
ymmv
doug s.