TECHNICS 100th Anniversary 2018 Premium Turntables. Their best ever.

The SME and Technics are 2 different animals.  The SME is Smooth, quiet, and slow sounding.  The Technics is fast, great timing, pretty darn quiet, great bass, and fairly neutral with a slight hint of warmth. I would say one of the best values in audio today.. If SME made the 1200g, it would cost 15 grand.

Technics on its own, sounds great. Better than most in its price range. But comparing to SME or Michell, 1200G sounds like mud. Both belt driven turntables play music with significantly more conviction, clarity, drive, and rhythm.

I have not tried the 1200G with a modern SME tonearm, so who knows what that could bring...

And you have it reversed. If Technics tried to manufacture SME's machining, fit, and finish, 1200G would cost $50K.

Aside from a very advanced motor, the rest of the fit and finish is midfi. Your standard cast parts, brushed aluminum and powder coated finish.

I do not think so. Panasonic is a much bigger company than SME with more engineering prowess and can absorb costs much easier than SME even though SME is a defense contractor that makes their deck in house from scratch. Thats not to say that the SME is not well engineered table. It is an old design. Great table 25 years ago. Your Michell is better in many ways than the SME. When I heard the SME, I liked it but was somewhat disappointed. I expected more. It is a somewhat thick slow sounding table and although it is very detailed and quiet, when I heard the direct drive in the Technics. it was a ear opener and eye opener at the same time. The leading edge attack and transients are just really something. Sounds spooky real at times. I hear things on a 4K table that I only heard on 20K tables. Frankly the SME sounds in many ways like a Linn LP12. I recently hear a totally maxed out Linn and this 4K table wiped the floor with it. Totally. Sorry but you are wrong on this one.  Many things are also very system dependent.  In some systems an SME would sound great.  You are right about the Michell.  It is a great table and it was a difficult decision for me.  If I were you, I would keep the Michell unless you just want something different.  You cannot get much better than that regardless of price.

I doubt you guys are going to reach a consensus but my own opinion is this: to reach the level of performance afforded by the best vintage DD turntables after restoration, possible re-plinthing, and calibration of the drive system, you have to spend more than $20k on a BD. Even then, there will be qualitative differences due to inherent differences in the drive technology, and plenty of room for subjective opinion for that reason. But, Invictus, the adjectives you chose for the new technics just don't make sense to me, I must say. Unless someone was regarding the platter with his finger (joke).

I have not tried the 1200G with a modern SME tonearm, so who knows what that could bring...

I've set the 1200G up with a Triplanar, and the results were spectacular.