I've read the whole thread, and I know this site might happen to just maybe a little bit skew towards the vintage. It looks like the primary difference is that the super OEM decks have much much more torque: 4.5 kgf.cm in the super oem to 1.6 for the Technics. The trade off is wow and flutter, which, as noted is >.1 in the newer decks and >.025 in the Techs. This makes sense when you think of all that torque you're getting. WIth the exception of the straight tonearms (too much record wear, no matter how little they skip), I'm also hard pressed to believe that the arm on a 30 year old DJ deck is going to be better than a new deck, even if there was initially a vast difference. The designs all look quite similar (I believe they're based on the same patent), even if the materials and components may be slightly different. Hate on HanPin all day, but 1970's Japanese manufacturing methods can't be all that much better than China today. Add in wear and tear...
So I guess the question, as a novice turntablist, is whether or not the increased torque is worth the trade off in w/f. Two and a half times the torque for 4 times the W/F. They both have an impact in how the deck will perform for beat matching. The crazy thing is that I'm looking at two decent Audio-Technica at-lp1240's for around $400, and 2 beat up tech's for $500. A decent pair of techs runs you $800 these days, easy. $500 is a good deal. At a certain point, "sterling reputation" becomes "herd mentality." It's gotten so bad out there that I find myself rooting for the downfall of the 1200's.