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The Official SOTA Turntable Thread

BTW, I know I'm bias, but reviews after reviews the SOTA Star spanks the Linn LP 12 over and over. There I said it and got it out of the way:rolleyes: :banana:
 
Ok got another Star Sapphire in the house to work on for Baski aka @vaathi He just worked out a local deal on this one, after picking up his Sapphire last weekend that he got last year that I worked on. We had two AKers pick up two Sapphires that came out of the same house, and they both ended up here for me to fix up. I had Armand's aka @psychoaudio first then Baski's, and one of the reasons I thought we need to get this tread going. Armand and Baski please start posting photos of your tables all setup.

This one has the SOTA Electric Flywheel they cost a lot back in the day at over $350, and if you see one on the bay they still end up going for that price.

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Well for starters Baski doesn't know what to look for on these tables when buying them, I helped him and for the price he got a lot. However when he dropped it off he said the seller mentioned ordering some washers, I'm like what washers? "I don't know":confused:

Anyway the whole suspension has been disconnected and one of the four washers and screw are missing. Not to mention why the hell was it taken apart in the first place?!!!

I propped it up to do a fast test of the bearing, electronics, vacuum and if a belt is needed and if it holds speed. So far so good, although the 45 speed is very sensitive and hard to set. It could work better once the table is put back together right and with a new belt.
 
Tip, on the bottom of the motor is a screw that adjust the shaft the the puly is glued and pressed onto. There is also a corresponding hole in the subchassis for adjustment. If the pully is rubing on the underside surface or hitting the motor cover make your adjustment here.

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In 1991 I picked up a gently used Sota Sapphire series III with a Premier MMT tonearm with PIB, Grado 8mz cartridge, relex clamp for $500 from a local classified. Been using it ever since and never had a desire to change. I roll cartridges. Grado MCZ, Grado TCZ, Grado ZTE+, Godring Epic, Ortofon FF15XE MkII, Ortofon VMS 20E, Shure M75ED. Best money I ever spent in audio. Feeds a Fisher 400 Receiver (7868 tubes) or a Fisher X202 integrated amplifier (7189 Tubes), Vandersteen 2ce Signatures. Cables are NBS turntable to amp, speaker cables are single bi-wire pair of Audioquest Chrystal II the remainder of system is Straightwire LSI Encore. The musiic seems to come out of a black hole. Totally quiet background.
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The Moonbeam 3 is in my price range but it appears to have a Pro-Ject arm. I am wondering if thats more of a lateral move from the Debut Carbon vs a trade up in sound. Especially given a cart-less Planar 3 is $100 more
 
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Mister Pig said:
Good thread, I enjoyed scrolling through it. I may one day buy a SOTA yet.

Regards
Mister Pig
Click to expand...
Do Pigs procrastinate much? I say yes...:rflmao:

The only thing is I see, you like to customize, and build up old tables, and then sell it and start all over again. If you buy a SOTA Star Sapphire or better, you may never buy another table again. I'm wondering if that would be fun for you, maybe build custom SOTA plinths, or hot Ferrari paint jobs on them?
 
4-2-7 said:
Do Pigs procrastinate much? I say yes...:rflmao:

The only thing is I see, you like to customize, and build up old tables, and then sell it and start all over again. If you buy a SOTA Star Sapphire or better, you may never buy another table again. I'm wondering if that would be fun for you, maybe build custom SOTA plinths, or hot Ferrari paint jobs on them?
Click to expand...

Well the plan was to buy this local Sapphire to me and reclaim the Fidelity Research tone arm off it for the SP 10. Then resell the table and cartridge and get the arm for a favorable price. I suppose I get a chance to fiddle with the SOTA a bit. But if I were to buy one to keep it would be a Nova, maybe even a Millennia if I were so inclined. To do that would require letting a major table like the Serac go though.

It's an idea I have pondered from time to time.

These old tables I am fixing up are for knowledge and experience, and because I can. With time spent with a 124, 401, and now SP10, I can make realistic comparisons of what I like and how things relate to each other in context of my system .

Regards
Mister Pig
 
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