i can understand the "limited edition" one costing that much, but if the "standard" one costs that much, fuh-get-it. Just buy a Super OEM based one like Pioneer PLX-1000 which has some good reviews. Or do what I did, just buy a used SL-1200 for $350.
Holy shit, $4,000? I get luxury products, but this is basically the equivalent of a Jeep decked out in leather, wood trim, etc.: nice, but the antithesis of its real purpose. 1200's are direct drive DJ tables. They're supposed to be lugged around to shows, take a beating, and keep on spinning. Maybe there's some rich DJs that don't mind carrying around $4000 turntables....but if this is for home use and you have $4000 lying around, you're much better off with a belt driven high quality table (say, the Linn Majik LP12).
You can get them used for around $400. Ebay has a whole mess of them right now, and there's a handful on Seattle craigslist as well. You can spend a LOT less money and still be retro cool.
I have a Technics SL-B2 that came with a nice Audio Technica cartridge for maybe $40 altogether. With a new belt it works fine. This thing isn't for me. This is a piece of technology for dickheads dropping thousands of dollars on the rest of their systems, not joes piecing together systems from high-end old stuff on a budget.
@8 Belt driven TTs suck for anything related to manipulation. Yeah, 4k is an insane price for new ones, but it's a well known, well regarded tool, not some toy for the rich.
This seems like an obvious cash grab. Something tells me they'll be coming with a more "budget" model at like $1,200 by the summer.