I purchased the Pro-Ject Essential II on a closeout sale (the Essential III has been recently released) as a supplement to be used in an alternate system. I have had over time more expensive turntables, and I did not expect the high level of performance I experienced with the Essential II. It really produces a highly enjoyable analog sound from your records, and is a great entry level table, and maybe all the table you will ever really need. In it's basic form with the OM 5e cartridge and belt driven MDF platter, the sound is very neutral (characteristic of this cartridge) with some roll-off of the lowest bass and highest treble frequencies. The "elitist" hi-fi reviewers call this "air", but this upper frequency bias can also lead to early listener fatigue once the "wow" factor has worn off if overdone. In short, the music from the basic system is steady in tone (I cannot hear wow or flutter) and accurate in speed, and generates a pleasant full range sound from good records that does not invoke listener fatigue over time. Badly recorded records, or old worn out or dirty records will sound bad on any system, on any player. I "enhanced" the base table with some changes, basically converting it into an Essential III model, which definitely increases the performance as based on my subjective listening experiences (and, unless you are using calibrated instruments that measure objectively performance specs, subjective evaluations of sound are in the ears of the beholder). Why? Because I like, as a hobbyist, to tinker with things and improve when I can. These changes are NOT necessary for still great performance. I added the Project Acryl-it platter, which is much heavier than the supplied MDF (particle board) platter and aids to reduce resonance and subtly enhances detail in both bass and treble reproduction. The biggest advantage here is the mass gain (heavier balanced weight), which reduces speed variation (wow & flutter) by flywheel effect, and rumble noise by the inert vibration damping properties of the acrylic platter material. I also added a record weight and cork mat (the supplied felt mat is flimsy) to improve record coupling to the platter. Pro-Ject does not recommend turntable mat use with the Acryl-it platter, however, I prefer to use one anyway. This is a simple upgrade, you just lift off the original platter, and drop in the new platter. Although substituting the Acryl-it platter is beneficial especially for this turntable, I would recommend the new owner upgrade the phono cartridge as the first enhancement, as this offers an immediate direct and audible improvement. Fortunately, the excellent Ortofon OM 5e cartridge which comes standard and mounted with this turntable makes this easy, as only the stylus needs to be exchanged, the cartridge body is the same for all of the OM series styluses. I substituted an OM10 stylus, and immediately improved the treble separation and response, an inexpensive upgrade. The owner can also upgrade through the OM series to the OM20, OM30, or OM40 stylus, each a step up in performance (and price!). The main advantage here is the stylus just slips on and off, there is no need to remount the cartridge and go through a realignment procedure, so this is an easy way to make the turntable sound better if you want to do it over time. I would recommend using the standard 5e stylus for a while, to break it in and also to get to know the characteristic sound of the base cartridge. You may find that it is more than good enough as is. If the owner chooses, other stylus brands/types can be mounted, however, if the cartridge is heavier than 5 grams, an additional weight must be purchased in order to balance the arm, and the cartridge will require realignment on mounting. Again, the performance with just the out of the box standard configuration is very good in itself. You will require either a specifically labeled phono input and ground on your amplifier, or if none is present (as with most AV receivers made in recent years) a phono preamp will be required to plug it into your amp's AUX (or equivalent) input jacks. This is pretty standard for audiophile level turntables, and not necessarily so with the sub-audiophile tables that often have built-in (but substandard) preamps. In summary... PROS: Excellent reproduction, accurate speed, very low rumble and motor or hum noise, easy set-up-just need to balance the out of the box tonearm weight (read the directions, or check out youtube videos), good component upgrade path, Ortofon OM 5e cartridge is excellent, and can be easily upgraded by stylus only change, light weight and compact, but sturdy, build and design, included acrylic dustcover. Very nice connecting cables (but not interchangeable!). Sounds great! Great value, especially at closeout price. There is nothing obsolete about this model that affects play or justifies the newer model features higher cost. This is a real turntable that will not damage your records just by playing them. CONS: Requires outboard phono preamp, or receiver phono preamp input, lower weight/mass, and thus less bass "weight: than a more expensive turntable, exposed outer platter drive belt is easy to knock off the platter when changing records (but you get the hang of it after a few slip-ups! Watch your fingers!), Anti-skate weight can be dislodged easily with turntable movement or rapid tone arm motions (but you should be careful to not make violent tonearm movements anyway, this is a precision instrument- note: try using a slip-knot to hold the weight in place rather than the loop already in the string. This hanging weight is way better than having no anti-skate at all, as with some turntables), strictly manual operation, user moves the arm to the start of the record, and must return it to arm rest at the end of the record, no auto stop or arm return!