They should charge more for it…

@newton_john 

I don’t think Wilson-Benesche (sic) got government funding for development of the extremely expensive turntable. It helped them get their business off the ground when they were starting out with more modest products

Not according to Wilson Benesch's website, which I quote below.  My first job was as a Research Scientist with a steel corporation in Sheffield.  Many governments encourage industries through R & D programs, and Britain has done extremely well in the past from high-end audio products from companies like Quad and SME.  Some lines have sold over 100,000 worldwide.

Wilson Benesch was founded upon an idea that it was possible to improve the existing State-of-the-Art within high end audio product design that existed in that time. A business plan was formed that put pure research, genuine engineering and materials science at the heart of a collaborative design process. This collaborative approach to design was literally forged by the first grant application that was written prior to the name Wilson Benesch even being conceived. That grant application set out a plan to develop a new turntable and tonearm based around carbon fibre composite materials technology that would represent genuine innovation within the high end audio industry, elevating performance and setting a new State-of-the-Art. This materials technology did not exist within any home consumer product designs of the time and was the preserve of F1 and aerospace industries at the time. So in order to innovate our grant application identified the need to collaborate with specialists both within the University sectors and industry of the time. The grant application was successful, the first carbon fibre – nomex composite structures ever seen within high end audio design were conceived and thanks in no small part to engineers who worked on Rolls Royce RB-211 carbon fan blades and a number of other highly specialised consultants, the Wilson Benesch Turntable and A.C.T. One Tonearm were launched in 1990. These products went on to win countless awards globally, but notably in Japan and Germany which were leading high end audio industries of the time where exceptional quality and performance was demanded

Funnily, I have never liked anything audiophilic that is made from carbon fiber, except some Yamamoto and Oyaide headshells I bought in Tokyo.  CF tonearms (e.g., the one made by WB) and speakers to my ears have a dull-ish coloration that I find anti-musical. So that biases me against loving the WB GMT in advance, based purely on the materials science behind it, but of course I could be very wrong and would love to hear it in an environment with which I was at least vaguely familiar.

My buddy bought one at a foreign show and loves it with his Wilson speakers. He is in industry so I am sure he got a great deal on a show demo. Looks impressive. I bet it sounds sensational. If your into this hobbie I’m sure it makes sense and delivers the goods.

With all due respect, the testimony of your buddy delivered third person and without any backup information (like does your buddy have a conflict of interest, what else in the system besides Wilson speakers, which Wilson speakers, what TT did the GMT replace or what other TTs were used as comparators, etc) is not of great value. If you can get answers to some of the foregoing questions, it would be helpful, I guess.

I haven't heard it, I'm not sure I intend to stop off at a room it will be in when at an audio show.

WB, Linn, Pink Triangle, Naim when encountered at an Audio Event have not been an experience that has been able to capture my attention, even when in a past guise as an individual with a audio interest I was using a Linn Deck.

WB has an existence that had been assisted with being awarded Grant Monies. 

 Noteworthy innovations resulting directly from grant funded research:

In 1989, Wilson Benesch was awarded its first grant. The application focused on plans to develop a new turntable that would use new materials technology to advance performance. £25,000 was awarded to Wilson Benesch by the Department for Trade and Industry (DTi) under the SMART Award scheme designed to fund innovation. The direct outcome of the SMART Award funding was the company's first two products, the Wilson Benesch Turntable and the A.C.T. One Tonearm. The Wilson Benesch Turntable featured an advanced composite sub-chassis, constructed from a Nomex core with a carbon fibre skin. The A.C.T. One Tonearm was constructed from carbon fibre composite in a hyperbolic tube.

In 1997, Wilson Benesch was awarded a second DTi Grant under the SMART Award scheme. Wilson Benesch was awarded £250,000 for an application that outlined a proposal to develop another dynamic drive unit based around materials technology previously not used in drive unit design. The project was code named 'The Bishop Project' by Wilson Benesch. The outcome was the company's Tactic Multirole Drive Unit. The drive unit features a Neodymium Rare Earth Magnet and an Isotactic Polypropylene cone that was developed through collaborative research with the University of Leeds and Professor Ian Ward.^[7] The first product which used this drive technology was the Bishop loudspeaker in 1999. The drive technology was also subsequently used in the company's Odyssey Range and the Square Series.

In 2003, Wilson Benesch was awarded its third DTi Grant under the SMART Award scheme. Wilson Benesch was awarded £186,000 for an application that outlined the development of a patentable drive unit design, capable of reproducing low frequency sound. The outcome was the company's Torus Infrasonic Generator. Wilson Benesch patented the design, electing to name it according to the designs unique motor design which has no spider to reset the drive unit cone to its resting position, instead the design introduced a new approach that used a push-pull drive design, with the resting position of the cone being determined by two electromagnets.

In 2008, Wilson Benesch won its fourth DTi Grant under the SMART Award scheme. Wilson Benesch was awarded £146,000 for an application that outlined the development of a patentable analogue replay system. The company entitled the research and development project, the Mondrian Project,^[10] and have published a number of project reports, but has announced no outcomes or products directly from the research project to date.

2009 SMART grant funding of £156,000 to develop nested tube cable. The design is a patented design.

Horizon 2020 EU grant 2017 −2021 SSUCHY brought together 17 European partners. The project was accomplished after being extended six months beyond the original 48 months, from September 2017 to August 2021, with a total budget of €7 411 150, including €4 457 195 of BBI JU contribution. Wilson Benesch commercialised its development outcomes in a new generation of loudspeakers called Fibonacci Series which superseded the Geometry Series Wilson Benesch secured £320,000 grant funding to develop the world's first bio composite monocoque

GMT Consortium. IUK Funding At the close of 2020, Wilson Benesch brought together a consortium that successfully won £327,000 of Innovate UK funding. The consortium was composed of Sheffield Hallam University – Dr F. Al-Naemi, Dr J. Travis and Professor G. Cockerham. These scientists have enabled the most nuanced and sophisticated modelling to be accomplished using state of the art 3D software and have been critical to the success of the project. Secondly, the highly innovative CAAS Audio, which is also based in South Yorkshire and is driven by the proven world-class expertise of Dr C. Broomfield and N. Broomfield. Since winning this essential funding, the consortium has pioneered a completely new motor and dedicated poly-phase motor power supply system. The Omega Drive and Alpha Power Supply is a patented applied for design. The GMT was launched in May 2022 and first production will be available in Q1 of the companies 35th Anniversary year. Wilson Benesch has only ever produced 3 turntable systems. All three designs have adopted all of the full system approach of turntable, tone arm cartridge, support furniture and first stage amplification being conceived as a whole as opposed to an assemblage of discrete designs being assembled together to create the whole.

I found one price only for the Tesselate TI  Cartridge @ $21K - Unknown Cantilever Material