Audio Systems: Mid-Priced Turntables, tt designs, marantz tt42

Question
Hi

I'm interested in your opinion of the best mid-priced turntables / phonographs (ie RRP at US$250-US$350).  I'm currently considering either the Marantz TT42 or Denon DP-300F.

http://www.marantz.com/new/index.cfm?fuseaction=Products.Product&cont=eu&bus=hf&...
http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/3145.asp

Cheers

Craig

Answer
Well, having previously been an executive with Denon I confess to being biased toward the Denon brand.  Their TT designs are solid.   Marantz is now under the Denon company ownership but their TT designs came from another company.  They were never as good, in my opinion, as the Denon.  

I also worked for Technics several years ago and I liked their TTs very much as well, however, they are hard to find now days.

I am not comfortable making equipment recommendations without significant consultation and collaboration because there are so many subjective factors involved in the process.  Mounting location, cartridge being used, preamp doing the amplification, type of music most often being played and speaker location/model numbers and room acoustics;  they all have a bearing on the final outcome.   

As you know, with analog sound there is acoustic feedback from the speakers to the cartridge and it can be a serious problem if you have a subwoofer nearby the TT.  Tracking of the cartridge and setting of the gain or eq will be important to adjust properly....

Good Luck,
C