The best way to save money is to spend time. So you are off to a good start. Go and listen to as many rigs as you can. Getting good LP playback everything matters. So pay attention to every detail in the chain of everything you try- table, arm, cartridge, what the table is sitting on, phono stage, all the wire, and of course also the system its being played on.
Best is if you can find a place that will let you play the same record on the same system with different turntables. Good luck. But try.
Another thing, relax. Every turntable out there is gonna do very naturally what every CD ever made never has been able to do: make music. I'm not kidding. I dug out my old Technics SL-1700 (with an old Stanton 681EEE with a bent cantilever) and my wife and I both preferred it to CD. Analog also tends to retain its value a lot better than digital. That same old Technics SL1700 from 1976 is worth more today than it sold for new. Digital? Disposable. Deservedly so.
So relax. Go and listen. Enjoy your music.
Best is if you can find a place that will let you play the same record on the same system with different turntables. Good luck. But try.
Another thing, relax. Every turntable out there is gonna do very naturally what every CD ever made never has been able to do: make music. I'm not kidding. I dug out my old Technics SL-1700 (with an old Stanton 681EEE with a bent cantilever) and my wife and I both preferred it to CD. Analog also tends to retain its value a lot better than digital. That same old Technics SL1700 from 1976 is worth more today than it sold for new. Digital? Disposable. Deservedly so.
So relax. Go and listen. Enjoy your music.