A turntable to partner Marantz PM6003

The Rega would be my choice - top arm, good build quality, excellent sound, excellent value for money. The Pro-ject is not in the same class in terms of build, arm or sound and neither is it upgrade proof the way the Rega is.

The Rega P2 or P1 are better options than the Pro-ject if you want a cheaper deck. 

I wouldn't knock the Genie 3 too hard - certainly, there's a lot of people talking up its abilities, I'd suggest an order of preference might be, of those you mention, the P3, the _2, then the Genie 3 and the P1 at the foot of the ladder.

Why?

Not sure the P1 is there for any great reason tbh - spend a little more (I think about £50 or so) and you get the P2. I think Rega wanted to dip a toe in the budget sector on its first rung but not so sure it's a raging success. Hence the Genie would be my third out of the four.

The other two, well, no surprises there. You need to spend some serious cash to outperform those two.

RS, have you heard the cheaper Pro-ject decks recently?

It might be because I've had them on systems likely to reveal their weaknesses, but in all honesty I couldn't recommend them. They do sound lively, but I'm pretty sure tech tests would show rumble higher than the norm. The P2 is so much better on all levels. 

Edit: But I agree with you on the P1, with the P2 being so close in price.  

Must admit, I'm not great fan of the lower end Projects, not least as they seem to have a confusing range (to me at least) of Debut decks out there, III, USB model, one with an onboard amp...make it simple guys! Plus, a real bland of the bland design I thought, though how far can you go with a turntable of all things....ah!

However, the Genie gets a good few ticks in as many boxes, I think the first version probably had a bit more in terms of what it apparently delivered for the price it was (£120 I think), but it's around £160 now? Not sure, but a bold design, smart colour scheme, decent arm; good package IMO.

In defense of my TT: I think the Genie 3 is a nicely designed, decently constructed and good sounding budget turntable. Depending on the OP's location it might also be the most attractively priced deck. In most European countries the Rega P2 is more expensive than the Project; even twice the price where I live.That fact alone made the decision considerably easier for me...

Jack