Audio Hi-Fi is unlike photography in that the laws of diminishing returns apply so forcefully.
I remembered when I first got corrupted by my friends who were into British Hi-Fi. From the Thorens to the Linn Sondek, I was first made to 'see' the light with my favourite LPs, then introduced to newer and more interesting music. I was amazed that as a (not very cultured) teen, I could actually be mesmerised by orchestral and symphonic music!
Cut a log recount short, and with limited funds, I soon found that by careful selsection, I could get a system that didn't cost the earth. Besides, a 100K set-up is of not much use if you don't have an equally dedicated and fabricated sound or music room to play it in (I actualy heard my friend's rich paret's set-up costing more than that sounding worse than my sub-5K set-up).
Wolfgang, if you're a DIY kind of person, you could actually buy 'kits' (in the past - not sure about now) and make your own turntable fairly cheaply. If you think about it, the turn-table is nothing more than a slab, a platter to put the record on, a small motor to turn that platter and a tone-arm/cartridge.
Yeah, The Rega's are very capable performers, which explains their amazing popularity and longevity (the original P3 and then P2 were introduced and became instant success around the mid-80s, notably the RB300 tone-arm, a very fine and precise piece of engineering which is said to match or beat the performance of tone-arms costing 3 or 4 times more. The RB300 on it's own costed about $400 back then IIRC). The P3 probably made the owners very, very rich.
As mentioned in my posts before the server problem, don't get swayed and look honestly at your own needs, then decide from there. However, I would still suggest putting more emphasis on durability and reliability and to some extent, musicality over the bells and whistles 'convenience' factors. Also ask about repair-ability and costs.
Then get yourself a decent MM cartridge like those made by Audio Techinica* if you decide to buy a few more albums. I have nothing against Shure, Stanton and Pickering, but in general, the consumer range of US made cartridges aren't exactly known for their finesse. Tons of BRASH OOMPH and PIZZAZZ if that's what you like in your music. Also durable, which explains why they are industry standards for DJs. No offense to those who like them though.
CHEERS!
* I have no uber preference for Audio-Techinica, but my previous experience with their super cheap sub$50 cartridges right up to their top-of-the-range $400-$900 moving coils lead me to believe that they are very nice performers and offer tremendous value-for-money. My personal preferences lie else-where. However, go one or two steps above their cheapest cartridge, if you get one, for much better performance. The performance improvement for that little bit more money spent is disproportionately large.
