I lust after the Symphony. I have a Pfaff 7570 that is one great machine, but I want more bells and whistles; ie: auto thread cutter, auto pivot feature that the Symphony has. Plus it has a larger throat.
I would be very very leery buying a new Pfaff, as many have said, they just aren't the same quality that they were. But....Pfaff has came out with a new machine, called the Smarter Pfaff, which seems identical to the Babylock Quest, except it has the auto thread cutter... And Babylock is coming out with a new machine to replace the Quest, called the Serenade. I'm betting it also has the auto thread cutter. Might be worth checking into as these machines have the IDF like the old Pfaff's.
JMHO...Make sure you test drive, use your own fabric and one other thing. Check out the sewing machine reviews on
http://www.patternreview.com. There you will find lots of unbiased opinions. Since you are spending this much money, make sure you get the machine that suits you. We all like different things in a machine. Have fun shopping and let us know what you do!