Upgrade Sota Saphire vs. Buy New Turntable


I have owned a Sota Saphire III since 1988. It is in perfect condition and plays great. I need to replace the stylus of the Grado MCZ cartridge and thought maybe it is time to upgrade the Audioquest PT-5 tonearm also. I priced out a Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge and a new PT9+ arm at an expense of about $1400.00, plus installation costs. I see that a new Rega P25/RB600 is $1275 and a VPI Scout/JMW-9 is $1500.00. Is my Sota "outdated" compared to the other table combos described? Will the the other tables sound better than my 50lb suspended Sota? I don't want to invest $1400.00 in a 15 year old table if I can better the sound quality by purchasing a new design for roughly the same price. Any guidence or suggestions would be appreciated. Pete.
prlscs
I did what Frank suggested last year. It was a great improvement! Donna is fabulous to deal with, and they give good trade-in on upgrades or refurbishing. Tell Donna I said Hi.
Give Donna at Sota a call.You can have that sapphire upgraded to a Star or perhaps a Nova for a very reasonable cost.Check out their site at www.sotaturntables.com and good luck.
I agree with Wellfed. Your table is already very good and I'm not sure you'll feel that you have made substantial improvements by buying either the P25 or Scout. I have a P25 with the RB600/incognito wiring and Grado Sonata with which I A/B'd vs. a friend's late 80's SOTA Saphire. There were differences between the two but in the end I felt that both were wonderful and musically engaging. In many ways I preferred the additional warmth and weight of the bass presented by the SOTA.
Since you already have an excellent table and arm why not put your upgrade budget into a new cartridge alone? Or better yet, a new cartridge and some room treatment products. I recommend considering Marigo room treatment dots. They will improve dynamics and provide more focused images.