It all started with a box of Pop Tarts, Seandtaylor...I just responded with humor! You should have seen her passing out technical literature...I fell in love--true love!!!
Anyway, there's enough info in the archives--here and elsewhere--for someone to make an informed decision w/out having to publicly ask. That's what I did. It's called *research*.
As for sonic differences, I could not audition all the TTs I wanted, more so with the same cartridge. Before buying I heard Rega 3, Project 2.1, Project Perspective, Music Hall MMF-5. The perspective impressed me the most, but there was something not quite right, a blandness in the sound. This was auditioned w/ a cartridge model I used to own, so go figure...
What I can say about the modded 1200, sonically, is this: that it is a very *neutral* sounding deck with great speed and rotational stability (translate this into DARN good PRAT, like Rochlin also described). The tonearm is in need of control, so the frequency extremes are not quite right. The addition of the tonearm fluid damper corrected in great measure this weakness--it's an entirely different deck. And placing a Bob Regal foot next to the tonearm gimbal increased bass definition big time.
What do I get, then? With my Ortofon X5 MC and a Monolithic Sound phono stage and a Melos SHA-1 linestage and my Proton dual mono amp I get a *big* 3-D soundstage, with good depth and even more height. Instrument separation is well defined, with smooth, detailed yet fast high frequency response. Otherwise, my Swans' M1 ribbon tweeters would let me know. I get visceral sound not just on the bass, but on well recorded vocals *and* horns. I can play the innermost grooves of a Barbara Streitsand album and still WOW myself...
My DJ TT humiliates my DAC--big time.