What are your top 3 favorite turntable companies (manufacturer) and why?

No, they don't, I suppose. But when I think turntables I always think British first.

No one mentioned Walker. You guys heard anything about turntables or what ?

dwette, I exaggerated it a little.

Why ? Because Brits understand PRAT and midrange. And Australian Contiuum and Dohmann, same designer, are, well, thought of as being among the very best.

Best turntables will always be British. And by extension - Australian.

Why not Technics when just about everyone seems to be getting one of them ?

Libraries and other places use Simon Yorke with SME arms for transfers.

Who is familiar with them ? And why would they use it with SME arms and not full SME set up, I wonder ?

Speaking of British.

Market for turntables is not tiny at all. In the US maybe limited but in other regions every household has a turntable, well, not every but many. What is audiophile here is common there in terms of analogue playback. And it is analogue not analog.

It is British, accept it.

If the price is right, whatever this is, I'll take Walker. I hope British will forgive me.

By the way, no one mentioned French J.C. Verdier. Not good enough ? I have no idea.

If I wanted to spend $5k on a new turntable, just the table without tonearm and cartridge, I would be in trouble, I guess, because I wouldn't really know what to get. It would be very easy for me to choose if I could compare them all, not always necessarily side by side, though preferable. In any good system the source is heard quite clearly, it sets the pace and tone. Besides, I know well how tape sounds, I have this reference in my head.

I will sort of paraphrase Jefferson - there is more than one way to skin the cat.

mylogic, I am talking about Walker Audio high end turntables.