Ok here's a few preliminary thoughts:
Sonically it sounds great - with my Ortofon Quintet Black I am getting a nice big warm sound; haven't really listened critically yet (gotta move some stuff around in the listening room) but initial impressions compared to my other two tables - Micro Seiki BL51/Rega RB300 and VPI Jr w/Mk IV platter and Grace arm - are positive.
I may yet order the antiskating mechanism, though without it I am not seeing any real problems in that regard.
The dust cover and hinges are both very robust, which is important to me and was an element in my purchasing decision. The feet don't look like much but I appreciate the levelling feature. Myself, I would have preferred 4 feet rather than the tripod configuration, but it is quite stable.
It is pretty svelte in person, not a great honking room-dominator like some of the VPI's.
I find this to be a good thing. The styling seemed a little austere to me (I was thinking that a nice walnut border around the plinth might have been nice) but the wife, who relentlessly critiques the aesthetics of my equipment purchases, absolutely loves it. (Whew!)
I switched out the supplied tonearm cable for one from Audio Sensibility. The latter is still being broken in and I didn't bother to compare it with the original cable; the latter, to the eye, looks OK but no more than that. Which may or may not mean a thing sonically, I dunno.
More impressions as I get time to play more tunes!
