Oracle Alexandria + Premier MMT = ?????

If youse guys/gals are still out there, can anyone recommend any tweaks for this rig? I have the same one and some upgradeitis. Is the hard acrylic mat "better" than the Groove Isolator, as Oracle claims? Any other ideas. I'm using a Denon DL-301 MKII and Shure V15RS with no damping fluid.
Already upgraded the cable.

Thanks Ja2,
I was about 18 at the time and it sure was fun working on all those tables. Hopefully the info will be useful to someone.

Fantastic information, Sgr. You're from my original neck of the woods, too. (I was born at St. Luke's and lived in U-City until moving to Rolla as a pup.)

I worked at High End Store while several of these turntables were being produced. I was the turntable setup man so had an intimate knowledge of how to setup the tables and which tables were the best constructed. We sold Sota, Oracle, the New AR, Denon, and VPI. I also installed tonearms and cartridges on the Linn turntables and their clones like Aristan and Pink Triangle. I'd rank them this way.
1. Sota Star Saphire. This is the table with the break through vacuum platter. The vacuum action eliminated some record warpage problems and made a close bond between the platter and the record. The table was improved with the better power supply. It had all the great features of the Sota Saphire which I'll discuss earlier.
2. Sota Saphire. This was a breakthrough design. Setup was exact and the table was built robustly. As a setup man I always new I could get the same great results time and time again. The suspension system was incredible. One could even beat on the table while the record was playing and get no feedback or skipping. I believe the saphire bear was a huge breakthrough also. The acrylic mat and clamping system really brought the sound of the Saphire very close to the Star.
3. The Oracle at Delphi. Before the Sotas, the Oracle was the table to beat. The looks and sound were KILLER. The Delphi was a major upgrade over the original Oracle. The new sprins were superior. But the springs and towers were the problem as far as I was concerned. It was hard to get the same setup twice. It was very difficult to determine the correct springs for the arm and cartridge selected. Even though Oracle supplied guidelines for which springs to use with different arms, these were more guidelines than exact science. I believe there was some inconsistancies in the ways the springs were marked and manufactured. But one could get very good sound from this table and as I said earlier, there was something about the looks all acrylic and high tech looking that made me just want one because of the HI TECH cool factor.
4. The New AR turntable. This little gem was a giant killer. Until its debut, the Oracle Alexandria was number four. But the little AR looked as good, sounded as good or better, and was half the price at $500.00 which included a fine tonearm. This table was a snap to set up and sounding great. And one could tap on the plinth of the table and the suspension system never missed a beat simarlar to the SOTA designs. A giant killer indeed.
5. The Oracle Alexandria at about $995.00 which included an arm this table was competitive to the Sota Saphire as it was a few hundred dollars cheaper. One got the best results purchasing the table with the Oracle Arm. It came pretuned and sounded great this way. We saw little advantage to outfitting the table with the Sumiko MMT. It suffered the same problems the Oracle at Delphi, it was very difficult to tune the suspension system with a different arm and get consistent results. When the New AR debuted, that was it for this table. The new AR sounded at least as good or better for half the price.

The Linn Sondek and Clones like the Pink Triangle and Aristan.
I would rank these tables somewhere between the Oracle at Delphi and the AR. Some of them really sounded great and could be ranked higher depending on the model and upgrades performed. I always liked the Linn better than the knockoffs. (Sorry if I offended anyone.)
The Pink Triangle table was upgraded with an acrylic platter at some point which was really a step up according to one of our customers.
We did not sell these tables but I had many opportunities to install arms and cartridges on these fine tables. I always thought the Linn was surperior to the clones. I never cared for the suspension system in these tables. And Linn had to upgrade their product (which they did) to stay up with the big boys and newer technologies.

At the back of the pack were the Denons. These were workhorses with many great features that the above tables could never duplicate. But, I never set up a Denon that could rival the New AR. The belt drives were much superior sounding tables.

VPI - At this point, VPI was just starting to sell turntables. They featured a VPI base with a suspension system plus a Denon drive and platter. It did sound better than the stock Denons, but could not rival any of the top 5 mentioned above.

Hope this post helps any would be buyers interested in a turntable from this era. I worked at Audio Musicale, a high end store outside St. Louis, MO in Belleville, IL.

Having worked in a Hifi store as chief turntable setup man which sold SOTA as well as Oracle I had the opportunity to set up SOTAs both Star and Saphire along with the Oracles, both Alexandria and the Oracle at Delphi along with VPI, Denon, and Linn and the new AR table I became quite familiar with turntables from that era. I would rank them this way:
1. SOTA Star Saphire the vacuum really made a difference over the Star.
2. SOTA Star. Much easier to set up than either Oracle. Its suspension system was easier to tune than either Oracle. Much easier and friendlier to adjust arms and cartridges. One of the biggest advantages the SOTA had was the superiority of their suspensions. One could beat on the table while the record was playing and it would never skip. Just try that with the Oracles, VPIs, and Linn clones! If I remember right the little ARs could do this too, but never like the SOTAs.
3. The Oracle at Delphi. If looks equaled sound, this one was Killer. When set up with the correct springs for the suspension this turntable was easily the equal of the SOTA Saphire. The question I always had about the setup was the lack of precisness having at least 7 different springs to deal with when tuning the suspension. It was just too tedious to deal with. The Star Saphire was its superior though.
4. Next I would consider the new AR turntable. We had sold several Alexandrias when they first appeared but after the New AR table appeared for under $ 500 with a fine arm Alexandria sales just dried up as the AR at least equaled the performance of the Alexandria if not bettered it.
5. The Oracle Alexandria. A nice table. I always felt it sounded best with the included Oracle Arm. It was tuned from the factory just right. It was a pain to put on and tune a new arm. I believe it sold for around $1000.00. At that price for a few hundred more one could buy a SOTA Saphire and the MMT arm. A great combo. We sold the Alandrias with the Grace F9e. That was a nice combo. Again the New AR at half the price looked as good I thought and sounded as good or better. It was really a giant slayer.
6. The Denons no matter the price never sounded as good as the New AR.
At that time VPI was just starting to build tables and used Denon drives with a VPI base which was better than a stock Denon but not by much.

As for Linn and the several clones that were built at the time like Ariston and Pink Triangle, they all sounded very good, but I always ranked them somewhat below the SOTAs and Oracles. Linn had their mystique and cult following, but they had to play catch up and today they have a much improved product.
Hope this helps.
Steve

I am speaking of Sotas with the metal control cover and black top.
My alexandria has a titanium colored top and rosewood trim on the sides.

When you talk about "new wood top units" are you saying there were versions with a completely wooden plinth? Mine is almost all aluminum (?) with wood trim.

I would put up an Alexandria against a Sota Sapphire of the same vintage anyday, and I have owned both. The older, metal control cover units had some issues with speed control and sagging suspension. Against the newer wood top units it would still be close, but I could see the Sapphire edging the Alex out.

Thanks. I can probably rescue the dust cover to my liking with some acrylic polish. I never expected this setup to meet SOTA Sapphire standards, but I have no idea how it might stack up to the other TTs I mentioned.

By the way, that's not my Alexandria for sale. I don't want to buy it, since I don't yet know the repair costs on mine. I suspect I could do better for $700, regardless.

Thanks again . . .

Alexandria for sale on this site?

I would fix it up. You will have a better turntable than the ones you mentioned in your post.

I used to sell this combo which can sound very good. The good news if you fix it up it can sound very good. Don't know if it would be competitive with today's lower end tables but I suspect so. Dust covers can be had here on Audiogon. I forget the guys name though look under tweaks.
While this was a good combo I never though even new it could compete with SOTA Saphire which did cost much more.

One option, scrap the table and install the arm on a newer SOTA. That is a great combo.