allenh

depends what damage has been done but I suspect it's blown drivers which unless you can find a tatty looking pair to steal the drivers from or some suitable equivalents I suspect they are due a trip to the local tip.

Is the marble directly on top of the wood? If so, try to get a carpet sample or something similar to put in between the wood and the marble. It allows the heavy slab to "float" a bit, further reducing vibrations. 

Grabbed an AT440MLA at the Audio-Technica warehouse sale.$160 for it, so not too bad.

Not really new equipment but I gave in and went to Ikea and bought some furniture that looks a bit more uniform than the assortment of equipment stands I did have.

Yes that's the bearing at the bottom of the spindle and yes it should be removable but there is no real need to remove it but they are a push fit.
You can replace them with ruby ones but unless you are going to do a lot of other upgrades and the rest of your system is up to it I doubt you will gain much from it, chances are a clean, re oil and a new belt will yield much more benefit.

I can't remember how many system decks I've owned over the years but most of them have left me upgraded in some way. I've replaced the platters with thick acrylic ones, replaced the base boards with acrylic ones, made new armboards, replaced the arms, rewired the arms, replaced the motors with DC ones and made new power supplies (both AC and DC for them), I've never felt the need to replace a bearing once except when the whole bearing assembly has been worn but the ball is usually the last thing to wear.

They're up again I just snagged one. The site says This item is currently on pre-sale. It may ship in January, and we cannot guarantee that it will arrive by Christmas. All other items purchased with this order will be held until the vinyl is ready to ship. 
http://www.carlyraejepsenshop.com/signed-emotion-side-b-vinyl.html
 

Tapped out for the moment but cannot believe how much I love my new VPI HW 16.5
 
I had so many record shot records that now sound like new, well worth the investment.
 

This just arrived all the way from China. It's a cheap valve pre amp board based on the Musical Buffer X10 Buffer and using Chinese 6P1 valves. It cost £8.50 including shipping, came complete and you just feed it with 12V AC.
 
I know the equipment before and after it is of a reasonable standard but for £8.50 it's absolutely amazing. Its particularly good at voice, I was expecting loads of hum and basically average sound but no its quiet and sounds superb, I might have got lucky and got a good one but for the price its got to be worth the wait on shipping. This one will be going into a nice box with a decent toroidal transformer and quality volume pot.
 
So if anyone is ok with DIY projects and fancies a go at valves this is a very good and cheap way into them.

 

Not really new equipment but I gave in and went to Ikea and bought some furniture that looks a bit more uniform than the assortment of equipment stands I did have.

Just picked up the Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum II.  Very pleased thus far

I wondered how often this actually sold for such high sums and did a Popsike search, my conclusion, not that often and quite possibly the same few copies changing hands more than once. Certainly the same ones seem to sit for sale on Discogs for quite a long while. This says to me that the market for high priced copies is actually pretty small, yes a lot of people want a copy but not at any price.
 
I also did a bit of thinking about some of the rarer modern records I own that I get asked if they are for sale via Discogs. The five most common I get asked about in no particular order are Mutmath S/T,  Shout Out Louds Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, Killers Hot Fuss and Paramore Riot, Cold War Kids Robbers & Cowards. All have been repressed so far except Mutemath and all were available at very normal prices (although Howl Howl Gaff Gaff was a limited 2nd pressing and I don't think there are more than about 750 in total in existence still), Hot Fuss, Robbers & Cowards and Riot were around in high numbers and I saw Hot Fuss in HMV yesterday for £9.99.
 
Regardless of how it's justified, to me $75 before shipping seems excessive for any album let alone a re press, its more what I expect to see the pointless re-issue box sets priced at and I won't buy those either.
 
I'm sure it will sell but I'm very interested to see how quickly and to how many, mostly because the precedent worries me.

I wondered how often this actually sold for such high sums and did a Popsike search, my conclusion, not that often and quite possibly the same few copies changing hands more than once. Certainly the same ones seem to sit for sale on Discogs for quite a long while. This says to me that the market for high priced copies is actually pretty small, yes a lot of people want a copy but not at any price.
 
I also did a bit of thinking about some of the rarer modern records I own that I get asked if they are for sale via Discogs. The five most common I get asked about in no particular order are Mutmath S/T,  Shout Out Louds Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, Killers Hot Fuss and Paramore Riot, Cold War Kids Robbers & Cowards. All have been repressed so far except Mutemath and all were available at very normal prices (although Howl Howl Gaff Gaff was a limited 2nd pressing and I don't think there are more than about 750 in total in existence still), Hot Fuss, Robbers & Cowards and Riot were around in high numbers and I saw Hot Fuss in HMV yesterday for £9.99.
 
Regardless of how it's justified, to me $75 before shipping seems excessive for any album let alone a re press, its more what I expect to see the pointless re-issue box sets priced at and I won't buy those either.
 
I'm sure it will sell but I'm very interested to see how quickly and to how many, mostly because the precedent worries me.

I wondered how often this actually sold for such high sums and did a Popsike search, my conclusion, not that often and quite possibly the same few copies changing hands more than once. Certainly the same ones seem to sit for sale on Discogs for quite a long while. This says to me that the market for high priced copies is actually pretty small, yes a lot of people want a copy but not at any price.
 
I also did a bit of thinking about some of the rarer modern records I own that I get asked if they are for sale via Discogs. The five most common I get asked about in no particular order are Mutmath S/T,  Shout Out Louds Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, Killers Hot Fuss and Paramore Riot, Cold War Kids Robbers & Cowards. All have been repressed so far except Mutemath and all were available at very normal prices (although Howl Howl Gaff Gaff was a limited 2nd pressing and I don't think there are more than about 750 in total in existence still), Hot Fuss, Robbers & Cowards and Riot were around in high numbers and I saw Hot Fuss in HMV yesterday for £9.99.
 
Regardless of how it's justified, to me $75 before shipping seems excessive for any album let alone a re press, its more what I expect to see the pointless re-issue box sets priced at and I won't buy those either.
 
I'm sure it will sell but I'm very interested to see how quickly and to how many, mostly because the precedent worries me.

So, I guess my wife is buying this? I thought I was the spender! Everyone meet Mrs. Sedendy Figh Dollaz!

Not really new equipment but I gave in and went to Ikea and bought some furniture that looks a bit more uniform than the assortment of equipment stands I did have.

Not really new equipment but I gave in and went to Ikea and bought some furniture that looks a bit more uniform than the assortment of equipment stands I did have.

Not really new equipment but I gave in and went to Ikea and bought some furniture that looks a bit more uniform than the assortment of equipment stands I did have.

Not really new equipment but I gave in and went to Ikea and bought some furniture that looks a bit more uniform than the assortment of equipment stands I did have.

Not really new equipment but I gave in and went to Ikea and bought some furniture that looks a bit more uniform than the assortment of equipment stands I did have.

Not really new equipment but I gave in and went to Ikea and bought some furniture that looks a bit more uniform than the assortment of equipment stands I did have.

Divorce worked really well for me, stopped all those little problems

I finished the cabinet I was working on. Cost under $200 and should hold about 700 albums or so. I'm just really proud of the top. Too bad you can't see too much of it. Next step is getting a separate amp for the record set up. Feels good to design and build it myself instead of going to IKEA or paying an arm and a leg for a piece of furniture. It's a nice median between the two.

I have a VPI Classic 1. I can recommend a Musical Surroundings Phenomena II, as it's what I have, and I really like it. But, it's the only phono stage I have used in my current system (but I did compare it to a decent built-in stage in a Yamaha AS700 before I swapped that out for separates, and it was no contest), so I really can only recommend the MS without any relative context. 
 
I have tried four different cartridges on my Classic, though. Denon DL-160, Dynavector XX-2, Ortofon 2M Black, and an Audio Technica AT33PTG/II, which is my current cartridge. My favorite is the Dyna, but it's also the most expensive by a mile. The Ortofon was good, but it didn't really have a sound signature that I liked. Plus it's super fussy when it comes to setup, and that would have driven me nuts. I like what I perceive as the Japanese MC sound, and while Denon was good at first, going back to it after my XX-2 really showed it's limitations. So far the AT has been good, it's not as rich as the XX-2, and seems more even across the sound spectrum, which is what it is known for. I feel like performance wise it easily stands up there with the XX-2, but without the rich presentation and some of the sound texture I love.
 
Well, I was going to recommend a Dynavector 10x5 or a AT cart like mine or the US version of it, but the 10x5 is retailing for $650 now! Damn! So, I recommend you look into the AT33PTG/II, it's a Japan and U.K. product, or the US equivalent which is the OC9/III, I think. 
 
Do your best to listen to anything you are considering, but don't worry too much about it either as differences are usually subtle, and you probably won't be able to hear differences until you start getting used to higher end gear. When you're getting started, you have to buy a bit blind until you get some experience and time with different gear to better understand your taste.
 
So don't sweat it too much, and enjoy your music.

Off the top of my head Denon are known for very good and value for money MC's as are Audio Technica, and the lower end Dynavectors, but also Benz Micro, all make low, medium and high output MC's and also Sumiko make some nice higher output ones. You can also look at people like Ortofon and Goldring.
 
With your components I would be looking at something like a Benz Micro Gold or a Denon 304 or 103

If your amp is MF then I would suggest using a MF phono stage. Obviously you need to listen to one to see if you agree but TBH the MF XL phono stages have been my go to units for years and make even more sense when used with a MF amplifier.
 
Cart wise at that level don't even bother with MM go straight to low output MC, the rest of the system will more than cope.