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

Rega - excellent sound for the money at different price points and no cartridge alignment required. Plus a very good warranty.  All other turntables rely on the skill of the person setting up the cartridge.  I own a Planar 10.

Acoustic Research (AR) - Been around forever (1961); simplicity itself.  Belt driven and pretty much bullet proof since there's nothing much to go wrong.  Not going to find a better bang for the buck - I picked my first one up for less than $100.

Classic Denon

Micro Seiki

@mylogic Speaking as an American, I recall what Thomas Jefferson is reported to have said, “I consider a man who knows only one way of spelling a word uneducated,” or something to that effect.
As for turntables, I’m an old boomer who thought that direct drive had solved all previous technologies. I can’t understand the fascination with the technology of my youth, the old flat-spot idler drive or flimsy belts, but I must say, they certainly have worked up some lovely complications on the theme. I’m happy with my Music Hall mmf 5.3 a belt drive. I hope to resurrect an old DJ (British) Numark Pro-TT1. Saving up for . . . one of the tables mentioned in this post, I simply can’t make up my mind between them as the original poster, but my budget is much closer to $5,000 than $10,000 USD.

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.