technics sl 1200 gae

I have never seen those kind of deals with plinth and all.  maybe if you purchased a while ago, deals could be had. 

i do not doubt the quality, just the price I have not seen the Luxman for 2k

what about the PD441?  Is it the same as a PD444?  

No, it's not the same.
As you know it's easy to find turntables designed for use with one tonearm on the right side, but it's very difficult to find a nice and good looking turntable designed for two tonearm, especially very long 12 inch tonearms. That's why the PD-444 is unique, also because of its superheavy metal plinth with various armboards on the slide for the arm of any size. This is an old picture of mine, but you can figure out how big is the Shick arm on the left for example.  

I've never tried PD-441 myself, but it's just a lighter and cheaper version of PD-444, you can find comments from another owner of both on audiogon. Even for one arm the PD-444 is much better. 

Not all custom plinth for SP-10 mkII are expensive btw.
As for the prices for Luxman PD-444 i think even $4k is a fair price, but sometimes we can find amazing deal, you never know. 

the PD-444 does look very interesting except it would not fit on many stands.  Its over 26 inches long.