Suspended vs. non suspended turntable

Keith,two of my experienced friends approach the hobby differently.I was just at both of their homes this week........
Friend #1 spends,makes mistakes,than sells what he does not like.He has a great set-up,now,but has had errors along the way.He is almost in a constant state of considering new changes.
My friend Sid,has a different take,which he adheres to ADAMANTLY...he purchases nothing new,until he compares it to his current set-up!He spends the rest of his money on new music,for his incomparable collection.
Who do you think has spent the most time,and wasted more money on equipment?
More importantly,you don't have to guess who has a more "involving" set-up!!
Yes,I do understand your plight,but with big time expenses,there is always a seller willing to "be a good dealer"!!
Good luck.

Rbatsch, your comment makes sense. Thank you.

Dan_ed, I have had a turntable before, but I sold it. It was a Sota Sapphire, with Sumiko FT-4 arm and Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge. Nothing is left of my original T/T rig.

Sirspeedy I am familiar with both your friends because I know people like them :)

Keith I don't know what you thought of the Sapphire and if you'd go with a Sota product again, but to me they would be a good match for what you're trying to do. You seem to need a suspended table, so if you were to move up in the Sota line, you could get better sound, and a better platform for arm and cart. The reason I recommend the Sota though is if you get to the place where you no longer require a suspended table you can simply cancel the suspension with something like a Stillpoint bearing, or Symposium Rollerblock.

Have you been watching the TTs for sale here? I just sold my Cosmos, but there are good products for sale on a regular basis... and that will help with your 20kAUD budget.

O

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Either design type will benefit greatly from a top drawer isolation device. You should plan a major hunk of your budget for such a device. Each level of isolation that you add raises the isolation at the cartridge pretty dramatically.

I can see this easily in my own system by rapping the shelf in my armoire with the stylus in a silent groove. I have to rap very hard to hear anything through the system. Next, when I wrap the isolation platform I can hear it more easily, but it's still highly muted. Finally, when I rap the plinth I hear it quite readily but the stylus still tracks.

If there's basement below you listening room, you might put in some extra support below the system and immediately around it. In a rental house, long ago, one 4X4 pole, stratically placed, did wonders.

Take your time, but we're really interested to hear what you finally do. This is a sizeable expenditure that warrant careful study.

Dave

Here's my .02. Get the best table, arm and phono stage you can for now. You can always add a better platform and cartridge latter. If you're handy you can easily build a decent RCM for less than $100.

Maybe break it down to 14K for table and phono stage, 5K for an arm, and let the last 1K buy you a cartridge. I'm sure others will have opinions on this as well.