To have the most attractive aesthetic does add cost, especially if a professional Cabinet Maker Service is to supply fascia materials and carry out the finishing. Spray Paint Coating as a Fascia Finishing can be much more cost effective.
I am today more Wed to a aesthetic that has Honesty, the structure is not masked.
Mass Plinth and Idler Drives are from an era, when not too much was known about materials that are with an intrinsic property for Damping/Dissipation.
There are extra options today for selecting a Plinths function. Where Mass is a Sink to absorb motor energy, reducing energies transferred through the Platter to the Stylus. Damping/Dissipation, where energies are canned through the material and substantially reduced in their impact on other local materials.
There is plenty to be read on a forum like Lenco Heaven, to produce a basic idea for how each in use are perceived.
My recollections are those who moved on from a Mass Plinth have not returned to the structure. Damping/Dissipation has its attractions.
I am also in the prefer Damp/Diss Camp.