Greetings! Just joined the forum.
Very briefly about my path - been playing records on my own since I was probably 5 years old. In my teenage years I put together a decent kit, then sold everything when it was time to move very far away. About 10 years later, when I started making some money, I bought an old Ariston RD11S turntable with a Grace G-707 tonearm, fitted with an Audio-Technica AT440ML cartridge, and it was good! A short while later I sold that rig, and bought a Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck with a Roksan Tabriz arm and a Dynavector DV-10X4 MKII cartridge - a major improvement. Some time later I upgraded the Tabriz with the Zi counterweight - even better tracking with that! Still have that combination 17 years later. For me, Nottingham Analogue is the proverbial best bang for the buck in this hobby. I am now interested in linear tracking tonearms, never having heard one.