Hello Roger.
As a Tak man through-and-through, I would ordinarily suggest the EM-400 without reservation (it's a fantastic mount), but I just got off the 'phone with a former colleague who spent two days at NEAF and while he was there had long discussions in the OPT booth with the folk from ASA.
It sounds as if they have almost reached that 'economy of scale' point with their mounts which means lower costs and prices. Those direct drive mounts are selling well in Europe it seems. You may wish to keep an eye on those: they are likely the future of mount technology in amateur astronomy.
http://www.astrosysteme.at/eng/mounts.html