sorry to budge in, but no, you don't need to spend £2K on a Technics to make it sound good.
I will take mine, which is an example amongst others, feel free to correct BTW...
Techie from ebay: £230
Upgraded Techie Arm (rewired, insulation): £90
Heavy Platter from Inspire Hifi: £100
KAB tonearm damper: £45
Externalized PSU: £30
Regulation Mod: £45
Isonoe Feet: £75 (second hand from a generous soul here at AOS)
And the most expensive of all Mike New's Bearing: £375 (second hand from a generous soul here at AOS)
TOTAL: £990
And the rest you can spend on pretty much any cartridge you like...
Bargain!!!
I know what you mean, people do tend to become militant about the kit they like, and that's understandable. But one has to apply the rules of objectivity as well. I personally hated suspended sub chassis, found them irritating and time consuming to setup for no real benefit... But again that's me.
Everyone likes different things, different sound signatures and types of colouration in their system.
In the end, objectively, Technics are as decent record player as any other... If it was cheap and easy to produce quartz locked motors for TT, trust me, no one would have bothered about rubber belts somewhere in Scotland around 1972...
And now I will take my coat...
Francois, Bergerac, France
Source component/s:
Musical Fidelity M1 Dac, Allo Digi One, Sony SCD-XE800, AVID Ingenium Twin arm, Audio Note Arm One, Groovemaster II 12in, Audio Note IQ3 MM, Denon DL103R MC, Croft Basic 25, TQ Iridium Phonostage, Puresound T10 Stepup Transformer, Zavfino majestic tonearm cable
Amplification:
Audio Note OTO PP, Dussun V6i
Loudspeakers:
Triangle Comete ES, Klispch RP600M
Cables/stands:
Quadraspire, Belden 9497