After much research, I decided on my turntable, a Michell Gyrodec SE.
It looks like this:
You might think that there is a Gyrodec (there is) and that this is the Special Edition, but no, it’s the “Spider Edition”. Lots of expensive and unnecessary bits, like the perspex cover, have been removed. This has, people say, improved the sound as well as reducing the price (so it is affordable for poor folk like me). If you want, it can be upgraded later.
It sounds great. Over the years, bits have been changed, like the wires in the tonearm, and I bought a record clamp which flattens slightly warped records and improves the contact between the platter and the disc.
As a mechanical device, it needs a service occasionally. I bought a new cartridge recently, and took the opportunity to check all the settings and tweak it a bit.
You may recognise the style of turntable from A Clockwork Orange:
