To answer part of RGA's response regarding modded tables. The nice thing about my Rega Planar 2 is how inexpensive it was to purchase and how absolutely dependable it has been. The purchase of mods were spread out over many years so the improvements have been painless. Modding the table has been as much fun as building a speaker.

On the other hand I would not buy a $500 table and $1000 worth of mods at once. I would buy a $1500 table. I still need to buy a new hard mount motor.