Technics 1200 GAE, 1200GR or 1200G?

Here are some of the things I love about the GAE I own that swayed my decision. 

Built like a tank
Easiest VTA adjustment ever/—nearly on the fly.  No tools required. Great for dialing in the sound
No sensitivities to footfall
Simple and precise setup
Motor, power, stability

I will leave sound to the pro reviewers. 

The build quality is like buying a Toyota that will outlast seemingly fancier upscale models. The sound is as good as most anything I could audition. See Michael Fremer’s review.  

Im going to be honest. I’ve owned slicker looking turntables.  I did kind of miss the eye candy and the conversation piece quality of those tables. The Technics is a bit of a Trojan horse in that outsiders just see it as a run of the mill table from yesteryear. That it is certainly not!!

a highly trusted source says that the GR sounds amazing and is truly 90% of the G.  

@tzh21y Must have been a broken Michell. I'm playing one as I type and it has no wow and flutter or speed issues whatsoever. Speed is adjustable on a Gyro SE with the stock power supply as well as with HR.

I Have the SL1200G and I sold a Prime once I got it. I have not said too much about the VPI but I feel that the 3D arm when released was not a completely finished product.  I tried to get along with the newer 3D arm on a Prime and ultimately had to sell it because I feel the arm is not that easy to use repeatedly and is frustrating to live with.

A little back ground, like you I have been a passionate music lover and collector since the 70's. My first turntable was an Hitachi that I bought over the Harmon Kardon table with the Rabco linear tracking tone arm and it sounded great, but I always like the engineering and the argument that linear trackers should be the best way to play a record. So in the 80's after I bought my first house I got a VPI HW19 with a Eminent Technology air bearing linear tracking arm and it was a huge step up in sound quality. I used that until I was intrigued by the VPI Scout with the uni-pivot arm they offered so I got one of those but felt the arm gave up some transparency to the ET, so I started researching tone arms and found a new company out of England Trans-Fi and the Terminator tone arm I bought the second generation of that arm and was back to what I had with the ET but with less fiddling I had with the ET. I did all the upgrades over the years that they offered and was very happy until last year when I started having issues keeping the arm working I probably need a new pump reservoir tank etc. but getting near retirement age I wanted to keep thinks simpler so I started looking for a replacement player and noticed all the press VPI was getting with the new Prime.

Since I already had the SDS speed drive box why not get the new Prime, so I sold my Scout with the Terminator 3 and bought a open box Prime to replace it. The dealer installed my Ortofon Quintet Black on the table so that I would be ready to go once I set it up. So I thought. Due the 3D arms construction it is very difficult to get the tracking force and azimuth set. The weight that you have to slide back and forth to adjust tracking force has a screw that you have to tighten down but if you tighten too hard it can leave an impression on the back of the arm which will interfere with setting the weight for other cartridges also once you have the weight set you have to turn the weight left and right to set azimuth which messes with the tracking force. You are supposed to use the outrigger weights but they did not work well at all. I found it very frustrating and not as easy as I wanted. It is funny that on the forums nobody talks about the difficulty of this arm. Also bought the counter intuitive and that did make it easier, then the 2nd pivot came out and I was just fed up with the arm every time I wanted to change out a cartridge. The frustration I was and sure others were having must have of been noticed because they released a gimbaled arm.

Moving on I sold the Prime only having it 4 months and am totally happy with the Technics SL1200G I bought to replace it and I also think it sounds better.

The Technics if set up properly sounds incredible and easily bests much more expensive tables.  The Michell I heard was not broken.  They do sound great and are one of the best under 15 grand no doubt.  Once the 1200g breaks in it is truly an amazing table.