I have test driven a janome 1600 and it was nice. While the throat is small compared to a midarm or longarm, the pirce is much lower. I did a few quilts on my frame with a viking sapphire (about 9" throat) and I loved it - because having a frame is amazing compared to fmq-ing a full quilt on a domestic sewing machine at a table.
I did upgrade to a voyager 17, using the same frame. Even more love!!