2. analog
  3. 1356122443

Sota Sapphire arm help?

Hello everybody. So I ended up purchasing a Sota Sapphire on eBay. Came with a Sumiko Premier MMT tonearm. Well, as is turns out, the arm is no good. Rather than send the whole thing back, the seller has agreed to replace the tonearm. The Premiers are pretty tough to come by, so my question is this: How do you match a tonearm to a table that has an armboard for a specific arm? This turntable came with a premade armboard for the Premier, but I'm wondering if I can find a different arm (Rega RB250 or 300 perhaps?) that'd just be an easy swap without having to have a new armboard made. Any help is greatly appreciated. My first "real" turntable shows up & can't even use it yet. Bummer.

Thanks again & happy holidays to all on Audiogon!
geoffj85
kkurtis
43 posts
 
For what its worth...
The Sota can handle all the arm you can afford. The Rega type arms including several companies that make some truly great arms, are an easy solution. With Origen Live, the solution to the arm hole problem in an MMT board was a supplied dole rod and sand paper. Donna at the Sota shop will give you any advise you need. Replacing the better arm board is "pricey" and I would recommend investind that money in a tone arm upgrade if you can work out a deal with the original seller. The Sota shop also does a rather reasonable upgrade to the Sota table to version 5 status that is well worth the money. With the upgrade and a $3000 OL tonearm and Ortopon Jubilee I have more tt than I had ever thought possible for the money. The folks at Sota are great to work with.
geoffj85 OP
14 posts
 
After doing a little research I saw the Rega hole size is just slightly larger than the MMT, only like 1/4" or so. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle hopefully. Ill have to give Sota a call & find out on some upgrades. I had emailed about it & Donna had said that in her opinion, your money is better spent just trading in for a newer table. Well have to see though, I'm already way over my initial budget lol.

The seller is going to refund the money to pick up a Rega 250 though so we'll see how that works out. Thanks again everyone!
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
I have the SOTA Star/Saphire with a Rega 300 arm. I had it rewired, upgraded counter weight and armboard isnt stock but al once was stock. I know we can get crazy on spending but this table with my Dynavector 20L cart is 80 to 85% of my friends SOTA. NOVA with a SME V arm and a $3000 cart I cant recall.
yes his is really better by a significant margin, but his rig comes in around $10k, it better. :)
goofyfoot
1,354 posts
 
Though primarily for Thorens and Gerrard, please take a look at this website as it may address some of your uncertainties;

http://www.soundsupports.com/index.htm

Wish I had a Sota, that sound's addictive.
More to discover