1200G's aesthetics are iconic. Beautiful platter. Except for the blue LED lights. I really despise non natural lights in electronics. Whoever invented blue LEDs should be permanently cast out from society :)
Tonearm is of good quality. Better than similarly priced tonearms in Pro-Ject turntables, Clearaudio, VPI, etc. Having said that, it's nowhere near the sound quality, fit, and finish of even the least expensive SME.
I use an SME 309 with my Gyro SE and the 1200G's tonearm literally felt like a Mattel toy in comparison. 1200G's finger lift may be the worst I've ever seen. In order for the arm to sit in the arm rest and latched, the finger lift must be lowered first. So when starting a record, one has to unlatch the plastic retainer, then lift the tonearm, then place it over the record, and finally lower the tonearm again. It feels cheap and wobbly to boot.
Isolation feet are great and extremely effective. Chassis is sturdy and the plinth is made from a solid thick aluminum. Platter, bearing, and motor are state of the art and can compete with anything at any price range. The entire turntable is of high mass, weighing 40 pounds or so.
I'm not a fan of brushed aluminum finish, it looks cheap and is a cop-out.
I'm also not a fan of the platter sitting so low. Ortofon 2M Black has a height of 18mm from the stylus to the top of the cartridge. According to Technics' manual, VTA should be set at 1mm. But even at 0mm, tail was still too high up. This turntable would greatly benefit from the much talked about Saec SS-300 solid mat, or any number of other metallic thick (4-6mm) mats, such as Oyaide MJ-12, etc.
1200G sounds better than virtually all MDF or acrylic plinth turntables on the market. But it's nowhere near as good as the best belt drive tables, such as SME, TechDas, Michell, vintage Micro Seiki, etc.
