Originally Posted by Paul Smeenus

If you intend to DJ then I would agree with this. Almost every audiophile home-stereo table will be belt driven, however. They won't measure as well in a laboratory setting but will sound vastly superior connected to an amp and speakers.

I got the impression that we're discussing light-budget tables here, I'd look into players by Music Hall, Rotel or NAD at around $300, less if you score a deal or pick one up second hand. They will all come with a decent cartridge (when new) but you can do a little better with, say, a low-end Rega or something along those lines. That's what I was using (I had the NAD, those 3 are practically the same tables) before I upgraded to the Rega P25 (with a Rega Exact cartridge).