Merrill was pretty big for a while and they were available and fairly common. Here's my take if you are interested. The maxed out Merrill AR was a contender in my book; however it was pricey, If I remmember correctly it ran about 1100$ back in 1990. The same Linn was 960$ Now I see the prices are more in line on the Vinyl Nirvana site. The two Merrills I heard; one as I say was maxed and the other was inner and outer platter but no leaded outside record weight. New springs and armboard and sub-chassis; the speed motor controller. That table had a Sumiko PPT arm and sounded very nice, most competitive with all the tables in that range and actually it reminded me a little of the Linn with that kinda smooth and mellow sound, but not slow and ponderous and thick like Thorens tables.