turntable advice

Like the review before mine, I must also warn others that shipping a high quality turntable is not that easy. I bought mine on e-bay, and was fortunate. However, the weight of the platter had damaged the wood base durning shipping. I'm a do-it -yourself kind of guy, so I fixed it with no problem. I'm very happy with it; however, it could have been much worse. The model I bought is an ELAC Miracord. It has a heavy, 6 pound platter which must be removed when shipping. Also, it is regemended to remove the main chassis from the wood base. It's very delicate.
I'm very happy with my Miracord. Good qualities to look for are a good, heavy platter, and a magnetic cartridge; avoid ceramic. Look for a low static force on the stylus / tone arm, say between 0.5to 2.5 grams;this will preserve you records. The Miracord and other older turntables have a very massive tone arm. I don't know all of the pros and cons of this, but I think it is more sensitive to vibrations and footsteps, and also warped records. However, it tracks very well when conditions are good. The drive is a rim drive, which seems to work well with the heavy platter. The heavy platter is great for consistant speed, as well as low noise. Perhaps a belt drive is quieter; I don't know. I had one with a belt and I always had trouble with consistancy ofspeed. That turntable also had a very light, sheet metal platter. Perhaps a belt thin enough to be more quiet is not suitable for a very heavy platter. Either way, I have no geplaints with noise with the rim drive.
Again, make sure packaging is good! It may require more than one box. Look for a good cartridge, and a heavy platter.