SOTA STAR Sapphire Turntable Care and Feeding

The on/off button starts and stops both the pump and platter rotating. There’s a slightly perceptible hum sound from the pump when you first engage, but after achieving suction (about 5 seconds) the pump automatically goes into a reduced/maintenance mode and pretty much disappears even with no music playing.

If you’re the type who likes to flip over your record while the platter is still spinning, you can’t do that with the Sota Star. You need to turn off the table, flip the record and then turn back on - to start the suction process again.

With that table, tonearm, cart, phono combo you should be all set for now. Once you live with that setup and decide if you want to upgrade your cart, then you can go down the road of figuring out if you want to upgrade phono or not.

That’s great that you have spouses pre-approval. The Sota is a lot bigger/heavier in person.

I owned a Sapphire for 40 years and currently run a Cosmos Vacuum.

Put the turntable on a stable surface and level it by adjusting the three threaded feet. Adjust the tonearm and check alignment. Plug it into your Jolida which will do fine and enjoy. 

I would definitely replace the belt. You must order the belt from SOTA. Do not use generic replacements.

You might also have your serial number in hand and request a list of upgrades available for your unit. There have been many improvements over the years. For sure you should consider a new magnetic bearing and platter. 

If records have trouble sealing you will need to send your platter back and have a new mat put on. Records that are warped or dished and won't seal sometimes can be made to seal by starting up the table with the two finger nails pushing the lip of the record down at 180 degrees for three revolutions. records that are dished will seal on one side but not the other. 

If the pump makes enough noise that you can hear it from a distance of 10 feet it will need to be replaced with a new unit. The new ones are much quieter. 

Enjoy your table. The suspended SOTAs are the best value in a high performance turntable on the market then and today. There are very few turntables that can surpass it. 

I just had a great experience with SOTA.   My Escape motor was noisy and Christan had me send it in.  They sent me a brand new motor under warranty within a week.  Exceptional service !

The listing for your next setup looks like an owner saying goodbye LP playback.

My guess listing isn't getting much traction, which is the reason for that drop in price. You're getting "better" than ALOT of new gear under $10K+?

The Grado is a budget model from the 90's/early 2000s? When you're ready, a $1500+ LOMC/ & $3K+(find something used 1/2) will be another leap in SQ. 

 Hit the buy now button and worry about the little details once it's in your room.

The final outcome will remind you it was worth it.

Tablejockey, if you’re referring to the Grado XTZ as a budget model from the 90s, you’re very wrong. In the 80s that was Grado’s best cartridge, and it retailed for near to $1K. More importantly, it was superb in SQ, and I’d rate it ahead of most MCs I’ve heard in the $2K to $5K price range. (But that’s only my opinion of course.) Of course, we don’t know the condition of the sample the OP might buy. Replacement stylus assemblies are available, IIRC.