Thoughts on moving from a 1200G to Sota Saphire or above

I paid $1200 for my SP-10mk2 drive in mint condition, it was about 7 years ago. If you want two tonearms it must be at least ‘10.5 or ‘12 inch tonearms (otherwise you can’t mount them). Old SME (if not a ‘12 inch) are the ugliest on that deck in my opinion. Look at SP-10 mk2 in my virtual system, you will see many different tonearms on it: EPA-100 (‘10.5), Schick (‘12), Reed (‘12) … This is great turntable, especially with Micro CU-180 mat! However, for dual arms Luxman PD-444 is much better turntable (I sold Technics when I bought Luxman). Here is one for sale.



If you want SP-10 mk2 then $1500 is a fair price for the drive alone (without plinth or tonearm). If the seller in an amateur then your turntable can be damaged during transit. Platter must be removed and motor must be fixed with special board with screws. The drive is heavy!


You could service SP-10 mk2 at Fidelis Analog.

Well, like the Sota, the benefit of making a road trip is being able to transport it home and avoid shipping. The buyer is asking $3500 with reasonable offers accepted. Maybe going down a rabbit hole with this one. 

@bfoura, I can't say if $3500 is a fair price or not without looking at the actual stuff. An SP10-Mk2 with its original black volcanic glass plinth in good condition commands $3k+ in general. But it should be cosmetically and functionally very good. In general it is definitely a better sounding TT than 1200G. It will hold its price too. A good tonearm is needed, that's another story.

"@bfoura, I can’t say if $3500 is a fair price or not without looking at the actual stuff. An SP10-Mk2 with its original black volcanic glass plinth in good condition commands $3k+ in general. But it should be cosmetically and functionally very good. In general it is definitely a better sounding TT than 1200G. It will hold its price too. A good tonearm is needed, that’s another story."

Totally disagree. While the sp-10 mk2 is a great table in its own right, its not a better sounding turntable than the 1200G. Sorry Bud. It’s different, not better. Things can very well be system dependent. As for idlers, they do have a unique driving sound to them, no question, when they are working properly. Would I give up a 1200G for one? Probably not. They are not worth the headache. My friend has one and its great when its working, which is not often. It's still not better than the 1200G.  

In all honesty, I would not bother with any belt or idler at this point unless I was going to get, say an Air Force One, then I would say yes, its better.  Maybe and older vintage upper range Micro Seiki.  An SP-10Mk 3.  

bfoura, I see the direct drive gang is jumping all over you. Try getting your old SP-10 with a loose bearing or failing servo fixed. The Sota you can always have rebuilt and updated/improved. Can you have an old SP10 updated to modern specs? 
Tech Das, SAT, Dohmann and others suspend and isolate their turntables for a reason. Sota developed the first stable suspended turntable, a design that has remained essentially unchanged for 40 years. Sota marketed the first vacuum clamping turntable and have refined the design over 35 years. It works as advertised and is dead silent. It's vacuum pump/regulated power supply is all of 11" X 7" X 5", small in comparison to most. Just these two features put it's performance miles above what you can get with an old SP10 tossed on a chunk of wood, slate or granite with a record weight. Yes, direct drive tables can be very accurate in regards to speed. That characteristic is meaningless relative to good belt drives in the context of paying records which are extraordinarily inaccurate. I just got two new Blue Note records, Lee Morgan's The Rajah and Ambrose Akinmusire's On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment. Both were pressed off center. You can watch the tonearm swing back and forth slightly with each revolution. This creates wow far in excess of any properly functioning turntable as do changes in elevation.
But, hook a Sota and an SP10 up to an oscilloscope and you will see all sorts of rubbish on the SP 10's trace that is absent from the Sota's. Most of this is at very low frequencies. Put the Sota's dust cover down and it will get even quieter. Mark Dohmann related to me in an email that he is working on an isolation dust cover for his Helix tables. 
The performance gains from isolation and physical control of the record far exceed those of what you would gain over a trivial increase in speed stability. How good is the Sota in regards to speed stability? All I can say is that once the table is playing the speed does not budge down to 1/1000th of a revolution per minute under any circumstance. The Eclipse/Roadrunner drive displays speed down to 1/1000 of an RPM. No strobe required.