The urge to tinker is awash. What TT might better mine and why?

The Denon showed up this morning and have it spinning tunes right now.
Nothing much to dislike about it apart from I feel the dl103d cart is not the best choice but hey that is what it came with.
It is definitely brighter with less bass than my NA rig but that could be as much the cart.
Next move will be deciding on a good suitable mm cart... Or two ... Lol.

I would audition a suspended deck. If you like the characteristics a used Oracle Alexandria might be budget friendly. If you can find MK III or MK IV, they are more reliable and easier to set up; but hard to find. You can add your choice of tonearm, but there are some weight restrictions with all suspendeds. Of course if your budget allows, the Delphi is well worth a listen.

Of course, you could go Thorens or Linn, if you don’t mind being one of a pack.  ;^)

Uber

interesting thread:  a year ago I swapped out my spacedeck/spacearm (9”) for an ace spacedeck and ace Anna 10” arm; at the same time I added the Kiseki purple heart ns cartridge which replaced a cadenza bronze 

i use a walker audio motor controller and a Cary ph302 mk ii phono stage with a factory added external power supply ( similar to those used on the Cary slp98 pre amps ) - I put 4 circa 1950 vintage nos 6sl7 tubes in the phono stage

when all was said and done I achieved noticeable improvements in all areas of vinyl sound reproduction - incredibly low noise floor, great dynamics, detail, soundstage, you name it - the improvements were not subtle 

personally i love the Nott sound and didn’t want to get away from it, so I just got ‘more of it’

i think it’s the same with a speaker sound you prefer, if you like it and want ‘more of it’ just move up the line 

Well after some tweaking of arm and cart setup on the Denon I can see why the dl103d is so popular.

It has bloomed nicely from the tweaking, bass has more depth, more air and separation. Overall a pretty good budget cart that came with tt so hard to complain.
And after looking at specs on VinylEngine it is really not a bad match for the arm.

However I will be trying out some vintage mm carts on this table along the lines of Pickering, Shure, ADC etc.
Its fun to have new toys and at the price point of vintage mm carts not the end of the world.

@markmendenhall personally i love the Nott sound and didn’t want to get away from it, so I just got ‘more of it’

Yep. And air bearings are yet more of the same. I much prefer the ’sound’ of really good bearings to anything else, regardless of the touted advantages of this technology or that.