SOTA vacuum or no?


I am considering a new SOTA Sapphire or Nova as a replacement for my VPI Scoutmaster. I am aware of the differences in features between the Sapphire and Nova, but the biggest difference is obviously the presence of the vacuum clamping system present on the Nova. Is it worth it? The price difference between these two SOTA's is about $1400, I think. I am curious as to the reliability of the vacuum system, sonic benefit versus using the SOTA I-clamp or Reflex clamp alone. Also, how easy is the vacuum system to live with? I'd prefer minimal tweaking, if possible. Thanks!
rockinrobin
the only performance reason to change would be to go to the vacuum model. that said, the vacuum isn't necc gonna be a revalation. a cartridge or vpi upgrade might even be an option.
I have a Superscoutmaster and even aside from the sound improvement, I think that flattening a record is extremely worthwhile. A flat record permits the arm to travel across the record effortlessly. The quieter the arm movement, the less the cartridge has to deal with riding out those warps. I certainly would always go for a clamping system.
The vacuum option is available on both the Sapphire and the Nova. The Nova has a different bearing material IIRC and some other changes in the substructure. The clamping makes a difference. There is an increase in low level resolution that is hard to give up once you recognize the difference. There was a review in Audio a few years ago that measured the differences between the vacuum on and off. The graphs showed a dramatic reduction in the amount of spurious resonances in the vinyl once the vacuum was turned on.
You may NOT like the result of this reduction but that's another story.
Dear Rockinrobin: My advise is that you try to find the AT 666 vacuum mat from Audio Technica ( second hand for around 300.00 ) and improve your VPI to Superscoutmaster.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
I like the SOTA over my dads VPI for not just the Vac but also the suspension.....cheers