@raymonda
DJ's with money will buy them. Who do you think bought all those gold plated 1200's, customized, powdered. coated, bling out 1200's. As soon as the big name DJ's have them the masses will follow. $1600 today is close to the actual cost of a 1200 in the early 80's.
maybe it's not the right forum to talk about djing, but i've been in this business for 20 years, the cost of the 1200mk2 since the mid 90s was $400-500 new, now (20 years later) about the same for used in perfect condition. The limited gold 1200 ltd wasn't the mass product, something like 1000 units only. Millions of djs would never buy pair of GAE for $4000, they do rather spend everything on records instead, they are not audiophiles and in most cases even super star djs are more concerned about studio equipment for music production, active monitors and similar stuff. In this world the 1200mk2 is a legendary turntable. Today i got pair of 1200mk2 for rewiring from a friend who own them for 30 years and never changed anything (typical dj phylosophy), because they are good enough and works fine. At the same time i'm not trying to they the don't like GAE, they are just overpriced for djs, they don't care about audiophiles stuff. In my opinion the GAE will never be a dj standard or club standard like it was with 1200mk2. Cheaply made Pioneer turntables filled the pro marked along with Stanton when the Technics quit production of 1200mk2 not so long ago.
I wish we could live in a better world where local discoteques or bar invites djs to play jazz, disco or soul vinyl on TAD/Kinoshita speaker with tube amps and turntables like GAE as a standard. In reality it's possible only in Japan.