Turntable Choices

vpi...you'll get better long term resale value. the music hall is designed as a unit so you are not going to be upgrading arms at any point. With the VPI you can always swap arms out if that pleases you.

Tables that are 20 years old can be a good value but they can also be someone else's problem you now own. There are so many decent tables from cheap to absurdly expensive buying a 20 year old table is not a rational economic decision most of the time. When you can buy a used MMF 2.1 for 200 bux or a Rega Planar 2 for not much more it is hard to justify a 20 y/o Systemdek or AR for the same money. I've been there and done that; current table is one produced currently.

Or buy a table from a company that has been around for a long time that continues to support their products at the very least (Linn, VPI, Michell, Nottingham, SME).

If I could stretch my budget to 1400 I'd really push the fellow hard that has the Audiomecca Romance turntable with tonearm. It is supposed to be a very good table/arm comvination and wonderful cosmetics! he is asking 1600...it's been for sale for quite some time....

And I would never buy a Project table for a grand, or more; I'd find a use VPI Scout w/JUM9 arm and throw a dynavector dv20xh cartridge on it. The Scout with the arm go for about 1000/1100. Much better product than the MMF and Project things.

Used Audio Note table (TT1) with matching Audio Note ARM2 (RB300 rewired with audio note silver wire that is one piece to the RCA interconnect from the cartridge connections. This is a very good table and goes for 800 used; such a deal. Put a cartridge on it and you have a great table from a going company for around a grand.