Really, I couldn't care less what you buy. Some of the reasoning in this thread was starting to bother me though...
Um, there really isn't a whole lot of "reasoning" going on here, since I personally don't know much about what goes into making a good turntable. At that point, it's more speculation and self concluded logic since not many people besides you (well none really) are bringing anything else to the table. (no pun intended)

You bring up a good point, which is the price point vs. competition in the area of that. It's hard to make a decision based on specs only, since you know that the price point as you say, forces the manufacturer to sacrifice certain aspects of quality, in order to make that so. What to do then ? I mean, if you're sighting the wow and flutter specs for each as being less than desireable, then you'd have to suspect a competitor wouldn't dare venture too far off of that mark when not publishing their specs...right ?

The real problem here, is that we don't have anyone to give us any real input. I too am aware of how reviews are published, and with what tools. I'd much rather have consumer feedback, but I haven't seen any in this thread as of yet. Time to scour the web.

Doug