The FR64S won’t work on a SOTA - it’s too heavy and the B-60 (or Ikeda base - I have both and I like the newer Ikeda better) might not even fit in there anyways. The FR64S is over 3 lbs. A tonearm can be up to 2.5 lbs max on a SOTA Nova suspension, as I recall. The lighter FR64fx (2.2 lbs) on the other hand, works GREAT on a Star / Nova and is an ideal combination with a lower-compliance cartridge (Koetsus, Ortofon Cadenzas other than the higher compliance Black).
I had a Star III updated to Nova V specs. It’s lovely. But the new Nova VI series introduces a lot of serious technological & material advancements over the V. They could have just gone to labeling it "Series X". It's quite likely these tables are now highly underrated. It’s worth a long look, at least.
I too realized the value of SOTA’s suspension when I got a high-end Clearaudio Innovation table and observed just how UNHAPPY that new table was on a crappy rack that the SOTA had handled extremely gracefully. And I need either a vacuum hold down or a ring clamp to bust edge warps. I don’t get high end tables that don’t supply or facilitate this; that would drive me absolutely NUTS.
The HR-X and Technics are classics too, you really can’t go wrong any way here. Just continue to carefully consider all the considerations you’ve been considering :) I wouldn’t use any VPI tonearm with a lower compliance cartridge (maybe with the "dual pivot"...maybe). And in my experience there’s not much practical benefit to 12" arms other than it looks cool.
