Does Anyone Know the History of the Early Sota Turntables?

I also owned a Sapphire in about ‘86 w/ a Souther Linear Tracking Arm. It had excellent resistance to foot falls w/ it’s then unique hanging suspension. The platter was all aluminum. The arm board was just cheap MDF secured / basically dry wall screws & overall quality of construction not great. I sold it for the newest VPI at the time which had noticeably better pace & dynamics.

The Souther Arm was a bear to set up & align; when you changed one parameter, they all changed! It was a good concept & could sound very good. Lou Souther sold the rights to Clearaudio whose linear arm  today is based on it. 

I had an early Saphire.....be sure to use a light arm with it.   My Sota couldn't hold an old SME...the springs gave out.

link to 1983 Audio review of original SOTA Sapphire

It mentions the Sumiko Gem also, but not the back story I remember.  My understanding is that the Gem design was a prototype for most of the ideas incorporated later in the Sapphire, including the inverted sapphire bearing.  It was pitched to Sumiko, who added it to their product line.  I don't know if Sumiko, SOTA, or a pre-SOTA company manufactured the Gem.  The above story suggests that Fletcher et al formed a company to build the Gem.  It may have started under a different name, but at some point became SOTA.  SOTA has changed hands a few times over the yeas, but would be worth contacting to see if they can answer your questions.

After seeing how the Gem worked in the marketplace, the more refined Sapphire came into being and was sold direct from SOTA.

Had a Star Sapphire in the late 80's, with the sapphire bearing and aluminum platter. Swapped out Sumiko arm for Eminent Technology straight-line tracker and that made a dramatic difference.  Light weight tonearm probably a good bet. l spoke with the designer, Alan Perkins, back then who then started Immedia where i had their TT and arm. Now he's been involved with the design of the MoFi TT's so that might be a source of sorts.  It's true the SOTA was very vibration resistant and the speed was steady. 

I don’t use these AI programs very often but I decided to try ChatGPT and Co-Pilot and see what I could find. They found references I did not in my searches. Co-Pilot says 1" thick 6061 aluminum plate laminated with Baltic Birch ply. Other AI and search engines say its made of aluminum with no reference to Baltic birch. I wonder if they are mixing up the sub chassis in this answer.

For motor Co-Pilot says

The SOTA Sapphire Gen 1 turntable uses a Papst motor.The motor typically requires an unregulated power supply with an output of 28 to 36VDC, 0.15A or greater. Chat GPT was less useful.

The first generation of the SOTA Sapphire turntable typically used a high-torque, low-speed AC motor.

The condition of this table is excellent. The suspension is level, does not have any sag and meets the specs for Sota set up parameters. The finish on the top plate is a perfect matte black, and the frame looks like it might have a polyurethane finish, which makes me think someone has done some level of restoration on this table.

Since the platter is aluminum, I am using a rubber and cork mat on it, with a Sota I-Clamp. I also put on a Cosmos acrylic arm board I have in place of the original MDF one. The arm and arm board allows the table to balance with only a minimal amount of shot needed in the arm board cup. The suspension needs 2.2 pounds at the tonearm spot to balance, so I doubt many arms from back in the day were out of spec for what a SOTA could accommodate.

I have a Cosmos Eclipse with vaccum here, so I know how a Sota should set up. This table is meant for casual use, and for a low mass version of the Audiomods Series Six arm so I can use my Ortofon MC2000 on it. I have one that is OEM minus a new diamond, and one with a boron cantilever that is my casual use cartridge. I paid a modest amount for this table, and I do not expect it to keep up with the Cosmos or my Scheu, but I will say its very respectable in most ways, and an enjoyable table to listen to.

I wonder if many of the faults/limitations about sound referenced in this thread come down to other aspects of analog. Whether it be tonearms, cartridges, phono stages, or perhaps even the arm board materials. As the first one was MDF, and then they made a thin aluminum one before moving onto acrylic/aluminum. Because I think this table sounds pretty respectable as it sits, and I can spend the night listening to it.