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SOTA Sapphire - what do I have here?

Montycat

Montycat

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Ok, so I don't have it myself but my friend does and I'm going to help him with it.

It's a Sota Sapphire with an unmarked arm and (apparently) MC cartridge. I will have a better look tomorrow and might be able to get more pictures. It seems to use an external power supply but it didn't come with it.

The arm looks like a Jelco, but I don't know the cartridge. Any ideas?

Also, what do we need for a power supply?

Sota Sapphire by Buhduh, on Flickr

Sota tonearm by Buhduh, on Flickr

Sota tonearm 2 by Buhduh, on Flickr

Sota mystery cartridge by Buhduh, on Flickr

Sota mystery cartridge 2 by Buhduh, on Flickr
 
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You guys have yourselves a very nice, and highly regarded, table. I'm less sure about the arm and cart. Jelco makes some nice arms.
 
I am not 100% sure on my guesses. But the arm looks like an Audioquest or Sumiko of some sort. Both built by Jelco if I remember correctly. The cartridge body shape is reminiscent of a Dynavecor Karat series cartridge. Never seen that color before, but I don't have a lot of experience with the 80's era Dyna cartridges.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
The tables came with a few brochures and reviews etc. One of the brochures was for a Japanese named cartridge, Shinon maybe? I think that might be it. Another was for a Grado Signature Series which it obviously is not.

The picker who got the thing bought it with a big record collection and this was an afterthought as the records were all he wanted. He left behind some "English" speakers and bunch of other gear. My friend gave him grief and told him to go back and get the rest of the stuff.
 
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excellent table. Looks like a Jelco arm to me as well.
You do need a power supply to run the table. The factory one looks like a wall wart. I'm about 90% positive you can buy the power supply new from Sota.
 
Montycat said:
The tables came with a few brochures and reviews etc. One of the brochures was for a Japanese named cartridge, Shinon maybe? I think that might be it. Another was for a Grado Signature Series which it obviously is not.

The picker who got the thing bought it with a big record collection and this was an afterthought as the records were all he wanted. He left behind some "English" speakers and bunch of other gear. My friend gave him grief and told him to go back and get the rest of the stuff.
Click to expand...

There was a Shinon Red in their product line, i suspect that may be it. There was also a Shinon Red II, but the body was different. But I don't find any images that match that body style for any form of Shinon Red cartridge. Here are some images of a Shinon Red, and it just doesn't look the same to me.

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/75900-shinon_red_mc_cartridge/images/63841/

Regards
Mister Pig
 
The power supply is 24VDC. If you get an original supply make sure you plug the table into it, before plugging into the wall. Otherwise you can burn up the supply if the switch is in the on position.

Unusual looking arm. The bearing housing part that looks like a C clamp, goes to the outside or right side of the arm when viewed from front. That's usually on the inside. I believe the arm is a Sonographe LMT, eff mass 9g.
neo
 
If you don't have an AC plug on the table it should have this for the DC motor.

sexy%20psu.jpg
 
I am going to try a generic 24v supply to test at least. The power connector is the opposite one would find on an adaptor though with a wire with male end coming from the table. I will have to wire something up.

Yes I noted that arm support piece seemed reversed. Unusual for sure.
 
Looking at the top photo, top left there is a wire that looks like the DC lead wire.

This is a AC motor as such plugs directly into the wall.


IMG_1875_zps2600d8b2.jpg
 
Yeah, it is that DC version. As I mentioned, that wire is the reverse of a wall wart adaptor I'm going to try it with. I wonder is it's positive or negative tip?

I did pick up a female to female wire today but I'm still taking a guess as to the tip size too.
 
That's the internal circuitry? I see a rectifier at the lower right, so does that mean that the external supply is 24 volts AC, not DC? Actually I see the wave form icon so I guess it must be.

4-2-7 said:
I think your table might be so early and the lest desirable Papst Motor.

circuit.png
Click to expand...
 
I am in no way a technician and don't know how to read this stuff. I know the Sapphire went though quite a few factory changes over the past 30 years. They started with this motor and then went to the AC one I posted photos of one of mine. Todays Sapphire is so far away from the early modles. Also you can fined Saphires that were converted to Stars, or other factroy upgrades. Look for the serial # and give SOTA a call, they can give you more info on the deck.

I know more about the Star Saphires as I have three of those.
 
I see where you got those diagrams (I think), and this text appears there too:

Papst GS 38-09 Data Sheet with Motor board circuit diagram
Here is the higher resolution data sheet for the original Papst motor. Later versions were identical except for the omission of the rectifier such that they only operated with DC voltage.

As far as I know, the motor was used on models by SOTA (Sapphire), Oracle (Alexandra) and Harman Kardon (ST-7).
Click to expand...

The bridge rectifier is that diamond shaped symbol at the bottom of the circuit. It's essentially a set of 4 diodes and the icon inside it is that of a diode. They allow current to pass in only one direction so will change AC to DC.
 
Montycat said:
I see where you got those diagrams (I think), and this text appears there too:



The bridge rectifier is that diamond shaped symbol at the bottom of the circuit. It's essentially a set of 4 diodes and the icon inside it is that of a diode. They allow current to pass in only one direction so will change AC to DC.
Click to expand...

Yeah I had seen that and it says 24v
 
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