Turntables: $10 - 12K -Suggestions

Thanks so much for all the useful advice! My next step is to set out and audition the suggestions above. It is always most instructive to get a general "lie of the land" from knowledgeable folk as I think that this enables one to narrow down a vast array. I'm pretty set on the Graham 2.0 as I've heard it on a cheaper tt; also, there is a unanimity of opinion that this is a sterling arm(for its price).

1. Thanks alot Khyrys for the compliment. Also, for your useful tt suggestions. As I mentioned above, it will take me quite awhile (approx. 6 months) before I am satisfied that I have listened to all the tt, arms and cartridges before making a comfortable decision. The main issue is that of getting to other cities and finding stores that have decent gear and are willing to indulge me for 6-12 hours at a time in order to put the gear through its paces. 2. Tubegroover, I will immediately admit that I have no idea what jump in improvement the Graham will make to your system. It is almost 2 years since I heard the G 2.0 on one of the cheaper Basis models (I forget which one) and was astounded at the difference. Those were in my ignorant days when I thought that expensive pickup arms were merely gimmicks. Fortunately, I'm a little wiser now. Many years ago I owned an LP12 with an Ittok arm and loved it. However, it was stolen in a house-robbery together with over 200 records. Since then I have suffered from an illness known as severe vinyl depivation, despite having amassed over 4000 classical and jazz CDs in the interim (which I will admit is another form of lunacy). Even though I have a state of the art front-end dCS upsampler and DA converter, it pales in comparison to a good vinyl set-up. Anyway, I continue to fantasize about returning to vinyl.