Technics SL1000 MK3 (SP10 MK3) performance/value VS modern turntables?

@rich121 There is a reason the SP-10 MkIIIs go for so much money used. They are one of the most speed stable turntables ever made. Your turntable is totally worth refurbishing and will be a worthy contender for state of the art if done properly. I wouldn't sell it if it were mine. I would instead equip it with the best platter pad I could get for it and the best tonearm. Great turntable!!

I bought my SP10 MK3 from Steve Dobbins. He recommended the 12 inch Fidelity Research tonearm to me. I might have bought one if I could have found one in nice condition at a good price. I went with a Reed 3Q arm, which is wonderful.

In the $5k to $10k range (msrp), these are the other tables that I have owned:

Sota Cosmos IV,  Kuzma Stabi Reference, and Classic Lenco by Jean Nantais.

They are all wonderful in their own way. However, for me, the SP10 MK3 is an "end game" turntable.

Ditto to what Atma-sphere wrote. Chakster, the Krebs mod is to stabilize the stators.  As you know, in a DD, the platter is generally the rotor of the motor or is affixed firmly to the rotor assembly.  In the case of the Mk3, a gigantic ring-shaped magnet is fixed to the underside of the platter, so the platter IS the rotor. When the motor spins the platter, there is an equal and opposite (in direction) force applied to the stators. Any movement of the stator assembly in the direction opposite to that of the platter can at least hypothetically cause the servo system to "think" there is a speed anomaly that it needs to correct.  This can result, at a micro-level of course, in the servo hunting for correct speed.  Since the Mk3 has the highest torque motor ever used in a DD, to the best of my knowledge, this is a potential issue especially for the Mk3. What Richard Krebs devised is a method to further stabilize the stators so as to eliminate that phenomenon so much as is possible.  My Mk3 was purchased NOS, and I listened to it for about a year prior to having it Krebs-ed by Bill Thalmann, his agent in the US.  I hear a subtle improvement in terms of "smoothness" and therefore "musicality".  (You can jump on me for using those vague descriptors, but they fit what I hear.)  Before the mod, the Mk3 was already the most accurate TT that I own, but in some ways it was a bit clinical sounding compared to the Kenwood L07D which sits right next to it and feeds the same system.  Now I can hardly tell the difference between them except for the fact that the Mk3 is still bang on accurate.  I hope I am not putting words into JP Jones' mouth, but he compared speed accuracy between his tweaked Mk3 and his own new SP10R and found in terms of that parameter virtually no difference.  Which is why I was able to resist buying a 10R in Tokyo, where you can buy one for under $7K.

I think the SP10MkIII is better than the new 10R because it has so much more torque. But a good deal of that was so it could be used for LP mastering and I suspect that was not their goal with the newer version.

Glad I posted!
Just needed some reaffirmation :)
I actually meant to have it gone through 2 years ago, but I had some health issues and needed to re-direct...
All is good now... and taking a quote from thaluza... I want an "end game" turntable....
So.. now to plan for the upgrades.

I really appreciate all the posts and information... you guys are the best!

Rick