You can actually bang the table from the side and it won't skip! SOTA can supply you with a new dust cover but if the old one is not to badly damaged you can wet sand it with silicon carbide paper starting with 220 grit taking it down to 2000 grit then buff it out just like a car.
You might want to check the resonance frequency of the tonearm with a test record (Hi Fi News) to make sure it is down around 10 Hz. If it is higher just add weight to the head shell. Southers and Clearaudios are tricky that way because there is such a difference between the vertical and horizontal effective mass the vertical being much lower. Some people think this is an advantage. I'm not sure not having had the chance to play with either arm.
I still have my old Sapphire. It has a Syrinx PU 3 arm on it. I got it in 1981 or so and it was all the rage back then "The Lynn Killer." It was the very first turntable with a properly designed suspension and people could not believe how stable it was. Yours looks like a vintage version of that time period. Mine still runs perfectly. I ran it exclusively for almost 30 years.
Use it in good health!'
Mike
You might want to check the resonance frequency of the tonearm with a test record (Hi Fi News) to make sure it is down around 10 Hz. If it is higher just add weight to the head shell. Southers and Clearaudios are tricky that way because there is such a difference between the vertical and horizontal effective mass the vertical being much lower. Some people think this is an advantage. I'm not sure not having had the chance to play with either arm.
I still have my old Sapphire. It has a Syrinx PU 3 arm on it. I got it in 1981 or so and it was all the rage back then "The Lynn Killer." It was the very first turntable with a properly designed suspension and people could not believe how stable it was. Yours looks like a vintage version of that time period. Mine still runs perfectly. I ran it exclusively for almost 30 years.
Use it in good health!'
Mike