New TT -- $1k - $1500

Even out of the box, I wouldn't characterize the SL12x0 series as "thin" unless there's a cartridge mismatch or bad setup. Murky, yes, but thin? I don't think so. The most significant sonic shortcomings of the SL12x0 TTs are minor and cheaply remedied. You just have to know whtat to do: Get an LpGear ZuPreme headshell, get the fluid damper for the tonearm, wrap the tonearm in teflon pipe thread tape, toss the stock footers and replace them with Vibrapod Cones and Isolators, get a better mat, and platform the table on a thick maple butcher block cutting board. Do these and the murkiness disappears and you find it an overachiever in inner detail.

I regularly visit a local Rega and British-heavy dealer and often hear the upper end Rega tables with great setups and excellent downstream electronics (e.g., Naim), and also the nicer Roksan tables. I have *never* returned home from one of those sessions to play my SL1210 M5G (with all the tweaks mentioned above) and wished I had a better rig or setup. "Thin" never came into the equation. The Technics trumped them in propulsive tempo and lack of stylus drag on heavily modulated passages (e.g., orchestral crescendos). I'll grant you that the soundstage is usually narrow, but the depth is excellent and imaging is pretty good.

johnnyb53:  You were one of the primary influences in me getting a technics when I posted about what I was looking for back 3 years ago.  I was just getting into vinyl and wanted to test the waters.

The technics is one of the many reasons I stuck with the hobby.  It has performed well.  Quite well.  But, it is a fiddly beast.  If I stick with the technics (I bought used), I'd feel most comfortable sending it off to KAB for work (mostly so he can give it a once over before I put a bunch of $ into it).  I am a DIYer at heart and I would love to mess around with it, but I think it might get in the way of me enjoying the music.  Plus, I can't find anyone in the SE Michigan area to work on it - most audio shops ... well ... have other suggestions for me.  Which is the main reason I'm looking for something new.

RP3 and RP6 are both good candidates...  I wish the RP6 was in the price range - that's a little out of the box for me at the moment.  RP3 might not be enough.  
    

Well, Martinman, I’m *not* a DIY-er, and yet all the tweaks I mentioned I did myself. Installing the KAB fluid damper was pretty simple, and everything else was easier.

I had one advantage, however. The SL1210 M5G model comes standard with oxygen-free copper wiring in the tonearm, so I never had that rewired. I suspect that a low-capacitance the tonearm rewire on the standard models is essential for all the other good things to follow. I wonder if your any of your local audiosnob shops would be willing to stoop to rewire the tonearm. KAB has a low-friction hyperlitz tonearm wire that’s only $10/foot. https://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/superflex.htm

Take a look at the new Technics 1200GAE table due out this summer. You can find a posting by mitch4t today on this forum with a link to more information.

If you take the leap to a REGA RP6 or even a RP3 with upgrades, you will find that the technics sounded THIN compared to the huge soudstage and fleshy images you will get with a REGA table and a EXACT/ Dynavector 10x5 cartridge. Any other table is moving sideways IMO. 

Matt M
 

My experience was totally contrary with Rega P3(terrible deck and great arm). I found that Rega P3 sounded FLAT and buzzzzed lots. It lasted couple of month in my system and I found that even stock SL1200 humiliates Rega P3 with greater tonal balance and clearer midrange. Bass was also tighter and substantially faster. 
Invest your money into upgrading SL1200 arm, arm-board, because the quality of this deck is substantially higher of any Rega in the market.