Good Direct Drives

last_lemming"I’m not sure you understand the the level of sophistication of the 1200g, yeah it looks like same ole old 1200 tables but is a serious bit of kit. That being said $4k is a serious bit of coin. "
It is actually not sophisticated at all it is really a rehash of a previous design I know that some here have attempted to characterize it as new from the ground up but of course it isn’t it is a cheap Japanese direct driver turntable. For that kind of money $4,000USD you are not going to get a top notch turntable-plinth-tonearm for your Music Reproduction System and while the Technics does not qualify as a junk product it isn’t really a serious highend contender nor can it be for that price because precision comes at a cost. At this price level it is best to purchase a belt drive turntable which dollar for dollar at this price level offers you the best performance. For those who will argue with my assessment of this turntable I would politely ask that you seriously consider that such servo controlled direct drive motors are almost always off speed they are constantly hunting for the correct speed and that is the single largest source of their many sonic limitations.

A  relatively unknown DD turntable that is really excellent is the Sony PS 4300. It was marketed in Europe around 1976 and had a great following. It's rare to find it here in the states unless a GI brought one back after tour of duty. There may be a few sitting in closets somewhere. It competed with the likes of Pioneer, Sansui, Kentwood etc. It's a very reliable table with good credentials. 
I'm still using mine and have been for the last 42 years and am still thrilled by its performance.  And no its not for sale. It's in daily service. 
I did see some offered on European sites.

The Technics SL1200G is a better turntable than the Pioneer PLX1000.  This is not to say that one cannot enjoy the Pioneer or that it is "bad".  Two different price and performance categories.

Clearthink, You have swallowed hook, line, and sinker, the favored argument of those who prefer belt drive to direct drive or of those who make and sell only BD.  If it makes you happy, fine.

lewm"Clearthink, You have swallowed hook, line, and sinker, the favored argument of those who prefer belt drive to direct drive or of those who make and sell only BD."

No you are woefully misinformed and mistaken the statement I made was based on many years of actual testing regarding the performance of direct drive turntables and this testing is easily verified by others who might be so inclined as to conduct they're own testing of direct drive turntables they're problem is that they are always OFF SPEED as can be shown by the sawtooth plot of their speed accuracy. The problem is they run too fast so the servo slows them down then they run too slow so the servo speeds them up then they run too fast so the servo slows them down and it goes on and on and on they are almost never on speed! or you can just rely on anecdotal reports and be perfectly happy that is also fine.