Why not buy him the Technics MK7 for $999? It’s cheaper that the 1500 and looks better, at least to me. I think it silly that they got rid of the strobe platter on that 1500 model. Put a Shure M97xe on the MK7 and away you go. Although, now you will pay a pretty penny for that Shure...as they no longer make it. New on Lp Gear for $350 I believe. I love my Mk7 along with the Shure..... I’m not certain I would pay the extra 600-700 for a Gr just to gain maybe 2 kilograms In weight. It has the same exact tonearm as the Mk7, and its pitch contol is not as good as the Mk7’s...if that is important. The Gr does have a slightly heavier platter and maybe the base contains less plastics....that is the only advantage, not worth 700 bucks more to me. The MK7 gets a bad rap because it is geared or advertised to the DJ crowd. Funny, because when you think about that, the original technics 1200 variants were never designed to be dj turntables, but they were adopted by the dj crowd and used as such.
Just to add, you can buy a glass platter/thin rubber technics mat combo from KabUSA to increase the dampening and weight of the MK7 platter.