Theophile, Please understand that the question of the gunmetal platter on a GT2000 or 2000X is not on my front burner, as I do not own any Yamaha turntable. Thus I confess only to being human and to having forgotten our previous discussion. In fact, after I posted my previous comment, it did occur to me that we have covered this ground before. Mea culpa.
Also, you seem to think that I dismiss the possibility that the 18kg platter was a significant upgrade to performance. I do not and did not. But because of its far greater mass compared to the standard platter, I personally would not run the 18kg platter unless I had the version of the GT2000(X) with the larger bearing assembly. Personal preference aside, I also don’t think I ever asserted that the 18kg platter could not be used with the standard bearing, if one wanted to do that.
You may also like to know that I have advised others not to purchase a GT750 or any other lesser model of vintage Yamaha DD in the belief the lesser model would be "just as good" as a GT2000. I agree with your assessment of the relative merits, based on data, not personal experience. I have also mentioned here that, because our son has worked and lived in Tokyo for nearly 10 years, I am a fairly frequent visitor. I can attest that the GT2000 is not rarely seen in high end emporia that sell vintage used merchandise. (Typically, the ones I have seen in the flesh were a priori "sold" to some other lucky buyer, before I got there.) They also turn up on Hifido more often than a Pioneer Exclusive P3 or Sony PS-X9, for examples. This is evidence that the GT2000 was very popular when it was current, among Japanese aficionados.
Also, you seem to think that I dismiss the possibility that the 18kg platter was a significant upgrade to performance. I do not and did not. But because of its far greater mass compared to the standard platter, I personally would not run the 18kg platter unless I had the version of the GT2000(X) with the larger bearing assembly. Personal preference aside, I also don’t think I ever asserted that the 18kg platter could not be used with the standard bearing, if one wanted to do that.
You may also like to know that I have advised others not to purchase a GT750 or any other lesser model of vintage Yamaha DD in the belief the lesser model would be "just as good" as a GT2000. I agree with your assessment of the relative merits, based on data, not personal experience. I have also mentioned here that, because our son has worked and lived in Tokyo for nearly 10 years, I am a fairly frequent visitor. I can attest that the GT2000 is not rarely seen in high end emporia that sell vintage used merchandise. (Typically, the ones I have seen in the flesh were a priori "sold" to some other lucky buyer, before I got there.) They also turn up on Hifido more often than a Pioneer Exclusive P3 or Sony PS-X9, for examples. This is evidence that the GT2000 was very popular when it was current, among Japanese aficionados.