Tell about your experience with your old Audio-Technica SL-1200s..

Chakster wrote "If you personally can afford $15k turntable it’s fine, but in my opinion this is way too expensive for any turntable."
We can all learn how to do a better job of editing.  The sentence above is all you needed to say.  Interestingly enough I agree.
Take Care.

I bought a Technics SL-1600MKII in 1979.  I used Pickering cartridges. It served me well for a very long time, until I bought a 1200G three years ago.  I gave the 1600MKII to my son two years ago with some other of my favorite vintage gear; it is still going strong.

2 SL-1200 mk II’s
1 SL- 1210 black version is all.

  Had the reg 1200’s mkII for well over 30 years now, 
REMOVE PLATTER, spindle, take apart, wipe clean add 2 -3 drops clean synthetic oil.  Plan on them going to family someday

 they will be good for another  15-20 years.

  No other turntable can say that.
maybe my Dual.....

 best turntable ever made, the motor is crazy reliable, 

can not afford the newer version of the 1200., isn’t it. Starting about 1K$

Thanks everyone for their comments/suggestions - even the ones that strayed a bit from the question because it made me think out of the box, and again I apologize again for hosing up the title.  Haven't bought anything else yet - was about to pull the trigger on a GR but then they evaporated here on the eastern coast, and almost snagged a VPI Classic 1.  Looked at the SP-10 MKII's available but the ones I saw were in the $3-4K range and the others had speed/spindle/damage issues.  Tried yet again to swap the aluminum Technics head shell with the Zupreme but still couldn't get it to sound just right (though I did get the azimuth dialed in near perfectly).  Did the calculations for resonance and came up with 9 Hz for the Technics tonearm and head shell with a Hana SL cartridge and 8 Hz with the Zupreme - not a big difference there but the Zupreme is a bit heavier - 12 grams vs 7.5 for the Technics.  Maybe the installed KAB fluid damper is coming into play here, not sure.  Can't get a definitive reading on the resonance freq from the Analogue Test LP.  I'm holding steady right now, it seems.

It is doubtful that the KAB fluid damper is a contributor to the difference.  I use one too on my GAE, but I prefer the Zupreme.  Like you said, not a big difference and probably comes down to taste.  I also had the same experience back in the day with my Mk II.