Greg.......As a point of reference, this Clearaudio Emotion CMB Turntable w/ Satisfy Carbon Tonearm is a budget turntable, at $1400.00 out the door with the Maestro cartridge.
Jérôme's beautiful Clearaudio Champion Level II, with the Satisfy Ebony arm, and Talismann MC cartridge is a long, long way from budget, as you put it. That you would use the word budget to describe his new Clearaudio Champion level II turntable is narrow minded at best, in my opinion. In the same breath it would be fair to say the Linn LP-12, in whatever analogous appendage level it might be assembled, is a budget turntable when compared to so many other truly high-end, extremely well engineered and manufactured turntables from other manfacturers around the globe. The Linn LP12 doesn't magically become a mystically superior turntable by simply declaring all other turntables as budget.
Linn makes a fine turntable. Many hold it in high regard, while many do not. Perhaps your comment was not meant to sound as though Jérôme's turntable is somehow deficient in importance, but it certainly struck me that way.
Here's another bottle of the elixir concoction you enjoy so much.
