Hi Chris,
Perhaps not for you, but it is for me, as I'm a fussy fucker. Just because someone says that an SP10 can be restored to "top performance", doesn't necessarily make it so!
Yes, of course. No argument there. However, the state of affairs with me is that I've not heard any SP10 so far sound as good as my modded Techy, and as no-one I know has fully upgraded an SP10, such a comparison isn't available.
Like you, my current comparison benchmark is the L-07D. The last time I compared one belonging to a mate, to my Techy, the L-07D won, but not by a massive margin - and that was before my T/T was fitted with the new Ortofon arm, better SPU, Funk platter and Paul Hynes SR7.....
It would be interesting to revisit the situation again and see what happens, which is something that I intend to do soon, so watch this space!
Marco.