Interesting, We need to see the innards with the platter off.
I would expect a complete redesign of the PSU,motor drive/control electronics and improved rotational spec.
Of the £1299 take off £300 for VAT and the recent £ to Yen value change. Dealer profit of at least £300 so the real S/H value of the new deck is £600 (probably being manufactured for around £300)
A good S/H 1200 will set one back around £300?
To improve this we have to mod the PSU.Change the bearing, Tweak the platter.
3 stage PSU mod about £190 DIY
Bearing £150 DIY
Platter about £80 DIY--circa £410-450
The one common feature looks like the arm. From the photos I cant see any difference
Having done all the above mods first, on my own deck I found I gained a much improved SQ by removing the techie arm wand and fitting a straight CF wand about £30 -60 DIY (dependand on how one gets a new headshell)
So lets round up the DIY route to cover the any odd extra bits you have to buy and we are looking at £500- 550.
Added to a S/H 1200 at £300 means about an £800 spend.
Both decks need a cart.
If you are looking at the cost of up grading a 1200 using retail priced goodies you are not going to get a lot of change from £1000. from Bearing PSU and platter. add to that the £300 for the s/h 1200 and you are very close to the new deck price.
All the new deck may need is a better arm wand.?
Why have Technics not done this, is it a marketing decision to target the disco. rather than Hi Fi users
The proof of the pudding
Anyone heard one connected to a good hi fi system
Technics 1200 tweaked,Ianmac Bearing,DACT DIY Phono Pre, Belcanto CD-2, Engineered Switzerland DIY Renderer, Benchmark DAC2, Hypex NCore, ATC SCM40
2nd system --Engineered Switzerland DIY streamer, Sony CDP11,Topping D50 DAC, Hypex NCore. Kef 1point2 speakers. Ianmac Filters