Forever turntable under $2000

I also add a third vote for Linn. Have the classic  Sonedeck XII. Bought used and tested for $1200 ..add a Hana EL cartridge for $750 and just listen to why the Linn TT'S still get top dollar after 35 years. They got it right the first time.

If history is anything to go by, you are left with Technics. Mine is closing in on 40 years with no maintenance except a few drops of oil around Christmas time (that is how I remember when the time has come again).

Not going into technical discussions about these new ones and their "audiophile-worthiness", wouldn’t it be strange that a company with such a heritage comes back, decides to make something good, banks a lots of its image and credibility on it, advertises it as "audiophile" item, and then forgets to address something every hobbyist is obsessed with? I would bet that thoughts about different important aspects did cross their mind during the development stages. I am not sure how they dealt with them, but they are no fools. Maybe they even listened to prototypes?

You can take a gamble and buy "new from the ground up" now, or wait 40 years to see if they are as reliable as the previous ones. (1200 G/GR, etc., maybe even new 1500)

For whatever it is worth, this is what Technics says on its website about what they did with their new $1700 model...

"The SL-1200GR ensures high rigidity by using a body with a two-layered construction solidly unifying the BMC and the aluminium die-cast chassis. For the insulators supporting the body, as with the SL-1200G, the SL-1200GR uses special silicon rubber that ensures both high vibration damping characteristics and long-term reliability. Vibration in the horizontal direction is absorbed by reinforcement with cylindrical tubes using microcell polymers. While inheriting the technology of the SL-1200G, the insulators have had tuning performed specifically for the SL-1200GR.

Also, the installation section of the insulators is equipped with a vertical adjustment mechanism using screws. This eliminates the rattle that occurs when the turntable is installed in a rack or the like, and prevents unwanted vibration. In addition, exact horizontal adjustment of the platter and record surface reduces rotation irregularity due to slanting, thereby enabling more stable record playing."

https://www.technics.com/us/products/grand-class/direct-drive-turntable-system-sl-1200gr.html

You could buy a refurbished Garrard 401 from AudioGrail for $2000. Add a $500 solid plinth and $1000 for a 12" Jelco 850 arm.

The Technics spiel about the SL-1200GR is obviously written by someone who has little or no technical knowledge.  “the SL-1200GR uses special silicon rubber that ensures both high vibration damping characteristics” everyone knows that silicon is a crystalline element that is as far from being compliant and vibration damping as trump is from truth. But wait, there’s more:  “Sine waves stored in ROM are used for the control waveforms at constant speed, and this achieves smoother and more stable rotation” again, fiction flying in the face of fact. Sine waves can not be stored digitally and still faithfully resemble a clean waveform. The tried and true method of using a PLL regulated quartz oscillator is time proven to be both effective and accurate. Perhaps Panasonic should have had a technical writer produce their cut sheets instead. It would make them appear more credible than this tripe.