We sold them when they were new in the 1970's. They were VERY fussy and bouncy and took forever to set up. Not BAD, mind you, in sound, but when Technics came out with direct drive, well, some customers still liked their 12's, but many of my people went to Technics and were very happy. Some of the inexpensive ones did not sound as good as the 12's, but the better ones were clearly much easier to deal with and set-up and actually USE, plus they sounded better, so they won out.
There were other TT's that we sold that were good as well--LUXMAN comes to mind, but belt drive tables have inherent issues that DD tables do not. Of course, not all DD tables are created equally, so check it out IN YOUR ROOM with the arm+cartridge+cartridge pre you use to find what works best for YOU.
As for current Sondek prices, well, as a dealer, I would be VERY happy to sell you one, right? How many would you like?
Cheers!