Blimey. Had no idea you could bury £18k into an LP12. Yeesh.
The SL1000R really is a thing of beauty. And you're right, with sufficiently deep pockets that would be my choice too.
Craig
PS for the outer limits of stupid money, but superb engineering, the long obsolete Rockport Sirius took a lot of beating
https://www.stereophile.com/turntables/258/index.html