At your price point the Well Tempered is a solid choice. At first you may see the unconventional design as a gimmick but in the time you'll spend setting it up properly you'll come to understand and admire the utterly simple solutions of most turntables weakest areas, namely their bearings.
Until you can afford a deck with magnetically suspended plater and arm the WT seems the sensible choice.
I purchased mine for $300. The aluminum arm was severely bent and the plinth had drink stains and yet it still managed to play.
The availability of cups, platters, motors, for the older versions has seemingly dried up. You'll only need the fluids once and belts are available from a few sources. I'm told suspension, such as a Townsend sink or a Gingko platform can make a substantial improvement.
Here are a few photo's of my restored WT, Hero carbon arm with silver leads directly to the preamp. I got involved with Benz Micro and have traded up to my current low output Ruby Z.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=104009.0
Until you can afford a deck with magnetically suspended plater and arm the WT seems the sensible choice.
I purchased mine for $300. The aluminum arm was severely bent and the plinth had drink stains and yet it still managed to play.
The availability of cups, platters, motors, for the older versions has seemingly dried up. You'll only need the fluids once and belts are available from a few sources. I'm told suspension, such as a Townsend sink or a Gingko platform can make a substantial improvement.
Here are a few photo's of my restored WT, Hero carbon arm with silver leads directly to the preamp. I got involved with Benz Micro and have traded up to my current low output Ruby Z.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=104009.0