I’ve owned this table for over 35 years and while I agree it has been maintenance free during that time I’ve never been particularly impressed with the vacuum feature. Think about it: do you really expect the amount of vacuum created by the pump will take out even small warps inherent in a disc? A hold down clamp is much more effective in that regard, imo, although even with that the amount of pressure would dissipate the further you get away from the spindle.
SOTA STAR Sapphire Turntable Care and Feeding
I'm seriously interested in a used SOTA STAR Sapphire Series III Turntable with Vacuum, Electronic Flywheel and SME Series IV Tonearm, that is close to me and a very reasonable price. It would be a big step up from my current Pro-Ject X2B, but I want to make sure it is not too technical for my dinosaur brain before I pull the trigger. How difficult it is to get set up? Once it is set up, do you need to constantly fuss over it or just the occasional check? I have an upgraded Joliida JD-9 phono pre-amp. Would this pre-amp be sufficient for the SOTA or would I need to upgrade that to do justice to the SOTA? Any other quirks of this turntable that I should be aware of? Thanks in advance for your advice.
John Cotner
New Ulm, MN