One alternative is to get one of the later radial decks ,all those later tangential turntables 5005,3000,7000 etc are highly overrated. The later beogram radial decks however are vastly underrated the rx, rx-2 1800, 2000, 5000 are built like a proper turntables and have a better tonearm and are more reliable. They were just never as popular because everyone liked the look of the tangential decks.
Erik