Sota Sapphire VI Turntables with Origin Live tonearm

I have a SOTA Sapphire VI(ish). I bought it refurbished from SOTA in 2020. I ordered it with an Origin Live Silver tonearm and an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge. Their customer service is top notch.

Donna Bodinet (the owner)handled my order. I ordered over the phone on Wednesday. The second I gave her my shipping address she told me I could pick it up from the Factory on Sunday. It is 55 minutes from my driveway to the factory parking lot. While I was loading up my turntable in the car Donna told me that my turntable could handle any cartridge up to $3k I could throw at it.

A couple of weeks later I threw a SoundSmith The Voice at it. I have hit my endgame turntable. My Sapphire does not have the vacuum hold down and it probably has an older motor and controller system. By picking it up from the factory it was ready to go out of the box. They can't ship them that way. 

I am very happy with my Sapphire. Unfortunately for me it is the best component in my main system. I love the way it looks and sounds. If you decide to order one you will have to ask which tonearms they have available. I wanted an Origin Live Zephyr tonearm. They did not have one so I had to "step down" to the Silver. To be honest I am happy with what I have and I wouldn't change anything.

The Origin Live Silver tonearm sounded very nice on my heavily modded Rega P5 !

They need break in time to finally settle in.  

@Initm I have a Sota Nova VI (very similar to Sapphire), but mine has vacuum, mag-lev bearing and Eclipse speed controller & tachometer. 

When I was planning I looked hard at OL arms, but landed on Audiomods V (now a VI is available w/new better anti-skate and composite armtube). The OL and Audiomods are similar in that they're both tweaked out designs based on the classic Rega arms. IMHO, the Audiomods with silver wiring tip-to-tip and built in VTA micrometer offered more value than the OLs. The are a one man show, but Jeff is very responsive with any questions/tips, etc. and I've been impressed with it. Until I can afford something at a completely different cost level(e.g. Kuzma 4point9 or Schroeder) I feel like it's a good match and serves my Sota well. Cheers,

Spencer 

SOTA is a fantastic table :-) Most 9” arm will fit and balance out. Support from factory is excellent. Ortofon Bronze is a good cartridge but in no way will tax the capability of well chosen arm on a SOTA. Enjoy the music ! 

Recent owner, had to skinny my TT collection down. Helped a buddy out . He sent me a text “ HELP, i have been listening to records  on the SOTA for 48 hours ! “….

jim

Dear @lnitm ​@tomic601  :   " SOTA is a fantastic table .."  well the REGA 10 too and its tonearm too. So it's a little hard call about. I like both units and Initm can't go wrong with either, even that I prefer the RP 10 tonearm.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.