The Grado Gold is an excellent choice and is versatile because it is an moving iron design. It's output is high enough to be used with pretty well any phono. The Denon is a classic and plenty of people swear by it.
My first introduction to good vinyl playback was with a Thorens TD 166 rebuilt by GWN and using a Grado cart and an Alphason arm. Beautiful sound! When my wife heard this she gave the go ahead to set my sights on a higher end rig.
I have been reading the Vinyl Asylum over at
Audio Asylum -- Audio Reviews, Audiophile Forums and Stereo Reviews lately and many have indicated that a very well tuned Thorens, a decent arm and a good cart is very hard to beat. As in, one would need to be in the $3k range for most other tables to get a significant bump in performance. That says a lot when a good condition Thorens can be picked up for about $200 with arm in some cases.
The 1200 is a very good choice too. Being direct drive, you have an exceptionally well timed unit that is built to last because it's not just meant for listening! It's meant to be handled and handled often. Throw on a good arm if it doesn't already come with one and a nice cart and you should be gold!
Other good options is the Michell Tehnodec. I believe it is in the same ballpark as a new 1200 and is produced by one of the leaders of superb analogue playback. Uncle Erik and I will be a little biassed here as we both use higher end models from this company. Make no mistake though, their looks are fantastic and they sound sublime!
IF you are open to buying used:
AudiogoN ForSale: Michell Tecnodec
That looks like an excellent solution! You would have a substantial setup and the Sonata can be retipped by Grado for quite a bit cheaper than buying a new cart.