Teres Turntable / Portland

I am a Teres owner. I have a model 135 with battery power supply, a Origin Live Silver 250 arm, and DL103 cartridge. This is an excellent performing turntable. As none of the Teres models come with an arm mounted, the comparisons would only be against the Basis and VPI turntables. You could put any arm on including the ones you mention. I cannot give you an A/B review against either of the tables you have listed. However, others have put the Teres in the same league as these. From my memory, I would agree. I feel my table is a high class performer, and feel sure that the model 255 would be even better.
It is easy to put together, and should be no reason to scare you off the purchase.
I would highly recommend the same arm and cart that I use. The package is under $1000 and sounds like at least twice that. The OL arms use the same mounting hole as a Rega.
Sorry, I live in Tennessee, so it would be a little far for you to go to hear mine. I am sure you would be happy with the sound. It kicked my Linn LP12/Ittok/Karma into the dirt.

Aaird, I agree, and I spent the money I saved by buying the basic Teres, on the arm and cart. Of course, we would all like to be "cost no object" buyers, but ultimately we make some decisions based on the amount we have to spend. I decided that the basic Teres model provided enough of a quality drive unit for my needs and spent the balance on arm/cart instead of the lead shot weighting, which is really the only difference between the tables. As far as arm/cart choices go, I think that they should be purchased as a "pair" to match each other. Many combinations can give good results if they are well matched. I knew that I wanted to use a DL103, and needed an arm with quality bearings to handle it. After researching, I found an arm that had the capabilties of the top arms, at a very reasonable price, with the bearings and structure and mass I needed. The combination turned out extremely well, and I'm very happy with it. Since I like low compliance MC carts, if I decide to upgrade, I will have an arm that can handle any of them.

Congratulations on getting a very nice analog rig. You will enjoy it immensely. I can't give you any insight on a comparison between Teres and Basis, because I have not done any A/B comparisons with them. Regardless, you can be assured that you have a high-class rig there, so comparisons are not that important. Just enjoy the music.