What's a good beginner turntable at $2500+- range?

2500 is a very healthy budget.
Get a Sota with factory installed arm (less tweaking) and spend a nice buck on a cartridge. My Jewel is now running a Clearaudio Aurum Beta S and is quite happy.
You can do better for $2500.

Need a VPI 19 mkiii?

I vote for the Pro-ject RM10. Also consider the Clearaudio and VPI. IMHO, the Technics is not as resolving as any of these.

Dave

I was recently in your position. I opted for a Rega P9 w/ the RB900 arm, which I picked up here for $1200. I've mounted a Denon 103 M/C (which I got from a German seller on eBay for a couple of hundred dollars). I feed this to my LSA Signature though a Minimax phono pre, which I picked up here for $950. So, I spent about your budget, and I have soul ravishing vinyl. The Rega is unfussy to set up. The Denon 103 is a classic, fine cartridge, and the Minimax is wonderful and fun to roll tubes through. I did a *ton* of research before I bought all of this stuff, and I'm very happy with it. I listen primarily to small ensemble classical and jazz. I quoted the prices, which may or may not be good deals, to give some sense of real-world prices.

Cheers!

Chandos

You should look into Kuzma Stabi S/Stogi S... it's about $300 over the $2500, but it's a special table.

I'd second the Sota recomendation. Used ones are very reasonable, they're built like tanks and you can call the factory and speak with the owner. I've found the vacuum system to be really easy to live with - essentially no problems with it at all. Just turn it on and spin.