New Turntable Direction

@xagwell 

I'm very surprised by the retro leaning responses.

The others must be preoccupied, really.

My taste in sound is crystal clear, detailed and lean.  I hate bass bloat and fullness, which are usually associated with impaired clarity in the entire freq spectrum.  My Linn Valhalla with Alphason HR100S titanium tonearm, Denon 305 cartridge gave me what I wanted, years ago.  The SOTA Sapphire TT with my same arm and cartridge was leaden and dead sounding.  The Linn replaced my 1st TT/arm, a top of the line direct drive Denon with the Denon 307 arm, which sounded leaden by comparison to the Linn.  That's when I became convinced of the whole Linn story.  Then I moved to the Goldmund Studio TT, but my Alphason arm was better than the Goldmund T3B straight line tracker arm.  The Goldmund TT was a little better than my Linn.  Overall, the Linn gets a very high rating from me.

Today, I would consider one of the top Rega table and arm combinations.  For $6K or so with the Rega Apheta 2 or 3 cartridge, reviews suggest the type of sound I like.  But the most important move would be a change of cartridge.  That gives the biggest bang for the buck.  Not necessarily the most expensive cartridge.  I wouldn't get the top Aphelion cartridge for $5K, but would get the Apheta 2 or 3.  But I am very happy with my 35 year old Denon 305 cartridge which still has the sound I like.

I’m in the exact same boat as the OP with my Basis 2001 w/ suspension/Rega RB900/McCormack Micro Phono Drive. Love my Basis but updates will be as much as new everything. I’m looking into Vertere. The MG-1 t.t. and SG-1 tonearm. PHONO- 1 phono stage as well...Vertere is very different than Basis as far as motor on the plinth and lack of suspension(I believe)....I have a 250 pound Sound Anchors rack so suspension may be less important a consideration.
I’ve read good things about Vertere...Have you or any posters here looked into or heard about them?

+1 Rega Planer 10.  Great review in Stereophile
https://www.stereophile.com/content/rega-planar-10-turntable-rb3000-tonearm-apheta-3-phono-cartridge
Drawback is changing cartridges which may require fiddling like spacers.

Newer modern Technics turntables has also garnered many positive reviews.

VPI also a solid alternative.  I picked up a used Avenger w 2 tonearms for $8k. 
As time marches on, there have been many continuous sonic/technical improvements in turntables, tonearms, cartridges often using computer programs and equipment in designing/engineering especially in micro vibration management. There’s also been advances in materials and tighter tolerances.  Linn is a fine turntable, but many newer brands/models outperform it.  

Apologies if off topic, but to significantly upgrade your the sonics perhaps you should upgrade your cartridge as well.  The modern Hana cartridges have a fantastic bang/buck performance- that’s why they sold so many.