Spend my $1000 on a turntable

I paid $1100 for a used VPi Scout with acrylic platter! To heck with red, you can’t hear red. Although, Clearaudio makes acrylic ‘tables in red, white, blue and black. They may run you more than a grand new, but if you can find a used one a grand might do it.  Roxan makes a red ‘table, also more than a grand. 

In my experience, there are so called “entry level turntables”, and then there are high end turntables. All the Pro-Ject Debut, less expensive Rega, And Orbit record players are nice. I had a Debut that I outfitted with an acrylic platter, and Grado Gold cart, and it was great! But, I soon outgrew this entry level outfit. And when I moved into the more affordable high end tables, the Scout, I was floored by the difference. A real step up! My son in law wanted to get into vinyl, so I gave him the Project. He loved it! But, it wasn’t a year and he had upgraded to a Music Hall Ikura. If you jump up to the $1600 to $2000 range, you are moving into some really nice record players that you will be sure not to outgrow any time soon. Of course, if you are shopping used, you can aquire something in this price range for much less, hopefully around $1000. In my personal experience, once again, I have never regretted spending money on something nice, and I tend to shop towards the top of my price range, to ward off the need to upgrade for as long as possible. But, that’s just me. And it also depends on your anchillary equipment, if your stereo is quite modest, perhaps the less expensive ‘tables are a better match?  Just my 2 cents.