Am I a hopeless audio snob?

lewm+2

The newer Technics tt's certainly have strong visual connection to the cheaper DJ tt's.

The SP line is another tt altogether, visual appearance up to user, many routes with custom plinths such as mine.

And I prefer my SP MKII to VPI I formerly owned, both visually and performance wise.

I have had a number of good tts in my system through the years, including the SOTA Star Sapphire, SOTA Cosmos, Teres, and finally a hotroded Technics SP 10 mk II.  You're going to buy the table that you like but don't rule things out that really deserve a listen. 

You can see my Technics setup in My System. It was better than anything I had earlier and not by a little bit. You can, to a point make it look however you want, but the sonic strengths of it are worth whatever limitation you see in the cosmetics. 

Technics new tables are excellent. Especially for the cash.

Wont win you the envy of friends and local audiophiles though.

Consider me a convert! I had a chance to hear a SL-1200G-S and it is very nice indeed. My apologies for the manner in which I started this thread, but I sure did get some good feedback.