No question in my mind about the superior return on investment found in vintage turntables. While modern belt-drive tables may compete in the area of ultimate performance, they do not compete at all in "bang for the buck" comparisons.
In the days when my Technics SL-1000 MK II was developed, Technics had a huge volume of mass market turntable sales to fund the R&D needed for such a design and perhaps a million radio stations to sell it to worldwide. Nowadays, no manufacturer in his right mind would invest that level of funding in a project that might, if lucky, sell a couple of hundred units. It just doesn't make any business sense.
In the days when my Technics SL-1000 MK II was developed, Technics had a huge volume of mass market turntable sales to fund the R&D needed for such a design and perhaps a million radio stations to sell it to worldwide. Nowadays, no manufacturer in his right mind would invest that level of funding in a project that might, if lucky, sell a couple of hundred units. It just doesn't make any business sense.