I had an awful experience with a SOTA Cosmos mk3 (purchased brand new) and then later on I upgraded to the mk4 (no improvement in sound at all to my ears).
I owned the Cosmos for under 3 years, it went back to the shop for warranty issues - the custom ordered cabinet cracked in many places, and was replaced under warranty.
During my ownership, I dealt with Kirk with all the issues I was having. He is the company.
Originally, when I placed my order, the turntable arrived 4 months later than promised. When the table went back to the factory for warranty service and upgrade, I was told by Kirk it would be a 2 week turn around time. I did not see the turntable for 3 months.
Overall my experience was basically broken promises and a big let down overall in product quality for a $6660 turntable. A high end price, you should get high end quality and service. That was not my experience at all.
Most of the time when I would call and ask for Kirk, he was either away traveling or not available. One time I even got "he's too busy working on a reviewer's turntable" which was pretty sad, considering I had already paid for my turntable.
Consider all the various lines SOTA has, I don't know, but he must offer 4-5 different turntables. Consider they are all build on the same basic design, but they have consistent model upgrades - mk1, mk2, mk3, mk4 for the Cosmos.
One more thing I learned after I purchased my turntable, the original founders of SOTA sold the company and left a very long time ago - back in the late 80s? I'm not sure of the exact timing, but that is a good thing to know. This was a shock to me when I learned this, had I known this before, I probably would not have considered SOTA.
It sure seems like in the 'high end turntable market' you are buying into a relationship with the designer of the turntable you purchase. I do not know Kirk's original place in the SOTA company, but the fact that the original founders of the company are no longer there...does not sit well with me.
I do not mean any disrespect to SOTA or other SOTA owner's, but if someone is asking for another owner's opinion on purchasing an expensive SOTA turntable, I have to share my experience. I don't know if my experience is common or not, there are certainly many raves about SOTA on this site. Perhaps I got a lemon for a turntable, but for that kind of money, a lemon was not expected.
