Sota or Technics

thanks @mijostyn - I beleive you - no stethoscope required. I actually spoke with Max Townshend himself (nice guy, not a real businessman though, more like a mad scientist, which is a shame, because he has some fantastic products including a turntable no longer made called the Rock, which is supposedly one of the best tables ever - he could have been a higher end Rega) when I was buying the Townshend platform and he told me ALL about the microtremors in the earth that his systems counteract. He has studied earthquakes, etc. in a real way. They are present on the floor or wall of course all the time.

Like I said though, the wall has no footfalls, which are the worst, which I was having with Max's platform because I have a suspended floor over a crawl space and those low frequencies hit at the wrong point and were additive with his platform. It sounded so much better that I was willing to deal with the foot falls, but once I decided to put in the wall shelf (and my wife didn't throw a fit) I have the vibration/isolation as optimized as possible. It sounds incredible, so I don't see myself changing it as it is the strongest part of my system. I know internal isolation within a table is the most desirable, but I would probably have to at least double my TT investment.  Law of diminishing returns....

Maybe speakers down the road. My KEF R500s are only a year old, and they replaced a 25 year old pair of Alons, so based on my previous behavior/experience my system may be set for a long time, other than cartridge maintenance (VDH MC One Special) unless the distributor makes me an offer I can't refuse when that stylus wears out and I get something else. Just got the cartridge completely replaced in August, so I'm just kicking back for a few years most likely. 

What's your system and where are you from?

What do you think of the new entry level SME table for like $9K?

Forget it - I just saw your system you posted. Pretty nice, I must say. Way beyond mine, but I am not a fan of electrostatics as they are very directional from what I hear, and the dustcover on your table is attached through those hinges which bother me because it is better to remove it completely when playing and when I used to have to worry about that on my old Rega P5, I forgot sometimes if I put the dustcover back in the hinges when stopped paying for the time being. I guess I should just have never put it back in the hinges but it is hard for me to change a mindless routine after 10 years with a table, and with the P8 it is impossible to screw that up.

You really are into the digital stuff big time. Do you prefer it to vinyl or does it depend if you can find the vinyl of what you want to play?

My potential interest in digital would be if there were a lot of music I couldn't find on vinyl, which is not the case. I hate to say it, but I like what I like and the newest group that I have any vinyl of is REM (I know that dates me). Of course I have new records from people still alive, but they've all been around a while.

BTW - I have the same Beatles Collection sitting on top next to my components outside the normal record area......

What's the Beatles box on top?

There is nothing wrong with the arm on the Technics, objectively, based on construction and specs. It is very simple in appearance but it is also the result of many years of production experience. It sounds great to me when used with a suitable cartridge.   Of course there are better arms but they cost considerably more and many of them don't offer the flexibility and ease of use of the arm on the Technics.  When I was considering a new turntable a few years ago, it also came down to SOTA and Technics.  I ended up buying a Technics 1200G and am very happy with it.  Both are fine tables and you should be happy with either one, especially if all you want to do is play stereo LPs.  If you want to play 78s or use a mono cart occasionally, the Technics would be the better choice.