Raven AC3

I also really like my Raven AC-1. The sound character will also depends greatly on what arm you will use. I have Graham and Reed mounted on the table and they really sound quite different and you can hear the attributes of each arm clearly.
However, I did not have much chance to compare it in my system to other turntable of similar prices though.
I used to think that with Reed tonearm, it could not quite match the punch and slam of VPI Classic (both with JMW 10.5 and Reed arm using Reed arm pod) but once I have Graham arm mounted, there is definitely no deficiency there. On the other hand, it does not exactly out perform my Micro Seiki BL-111/FR64s/Koetsu combination either. By the way, I never could get Koetsu to sound great on TW for some reason.

I think TW may not be the leader in innovation as much as refining the existing one to an nth degree. Material science behind the platter of TW is probably nothing to sneeze at either. I am not familiar with Kronos turntable and I have no idea how long it has been around. However, the idea of two platter in counter rotation to each other is also used in Lab 47 Koma which has been around for a number of years already. Suspension as you said is similar to SME so it also looks like refinement of something that has been around for awhile already as well rather than new innovation.

In the end, it is the sound that is the matter. Whether it is a good old technology and new innovation, I suppose. German made product certainly will have some price point disadvantage in comparison to US product if you are in the US.