SOTA NOVA, HR-X VPI, Technics 1200G recommendations?

ceramic mat from audio technica Wil prolly be very bad right. 

I think that's why luxman pd 121a I'm using sound so different from rest of dd. the speed control. is soso.. but the platter is thick and heavy. and somewhat more quiet..quite a shocker when the result is very natural highly detailed and round.. even with a cheap MM. eleptical. 

makes sense to me.. 

Well nothing new from you, it's not necessary to mention your 911 car in every post about turntables, cars and turntables are not related to each other. If you like a turntable that looks like coffin with a belt then it's nothing but your own preferences.

You're right, I forgot you're still listening to 78 rpm, just like during the World War 1 :)) 

So when you compare your current Sota to something you can't even remember (and do not own anymore) it's very "helpful" for others. It's a perfect test, the only problem is that it's just in your imagination.   

If you will look at the images of turntables and some other audio gear that I like, you will see only state of the art design. Even if it's old it's still like new, I do not buy junk. Works flawless for me for many years, no problem. 

You can cut yourself a mat from a piece of paper if you like it soft :)

But I would rather buy another Micro CU-500 Copper Mat if I can find it in MINT condition.    

I see one common problem in modern equipment, most of the designers have no taste (imo). 

Regarding "antique" cartridges, let me show you my latest purchase, believe it of not, but it's modern Shelter 5000 LOMC. I think it's beautiful. 

 

I think that’s why luxman pd 121a I’m using sound so different from rest of dd. the speed control. is soso.. but the platter is thick and heavy. and somewhat more quiet..quite a shocker when the result is very natural highly detailed and round.. even with a cheap MM. eleptical.

Never tried PD-121, my only Luxman is their top PD-444.
SAEC is the best for Luxman platter because the platter edge is higher than its inner side. SAEC is the opposite (look here). And this is a top side.

Micro CU-180 diameter can be too big (there is a little tolerance in diameter according to the manual), sometimes it can’t fit! This is my cu-180 on my lux platter. And the side view.

And Sakura Systems THE MAT is just perfect for LUX platter size.

Mijo, What we disagree on is the idea that a typical spring-suspended turntable is the sine qua non of turntable isolation.  I fully agree that isolation from environmental energy is important, and we agree on the why of it.  But I don't think the SOTA as prototype is the best way to go about isolating a turntable from the environment.  And I have stated the reason for my opinion several times:  With all such systems, and the SOTA is not much different from the now ancient and much loved AR turntable of yore and all its descendants (albeit the SOTA is far more advanced), the designer has a choice.  Either the motor is suspended along with the tonearm and bearing/platter, or it is mounted on solid footing, so it does not couple energy into the working elements.  If the motor is suspended, then a major source of noise (and here I am talking about mechanical energy, not EMI) is coupled into the platter.  Belt drive motors must operate at higher rotational speeds so as to maintain platter speed, compared to any dd motor, and what's more there will be a side force on both the platter and the motor pulley which eventually needs to extraneous noise due to the long term effects of friction, so I think that is why most designers of spring-suspended turntables adopt the other option, having the motor on solid ground, so to speak.  But when the motor is mechanically separated from the driven elements, there will be motion of one relative to the other.  If the belt is at all compliant, then there will be speed inconstancy owing to the stretching and relaxing of the belt as vibrational energy is absorbed.  You like to talk about the 80s and 90s, when "everyone" figured out that belt-drive turntables were superior to direct-drive, but I would posit that what happened in those decades, besides the near total demise of vinyl, was the result of a propaganda barrage from the industry, not excluding the magazines. It was and is just so much easier to build a low end belt-drive turntable that everyone was and still is doing it.  I was there, and I was swept up in it for a number of years, just as you were.  Now some of the modern and expensive belt-drives do the suspension right, including the Dohmann Helix.  I think that's a great turntable but I would rather not afford it.  I would further point out that there are sophisticated methods by which to isolate a non-suspended DD turntable that in my opinion can have an effect at least equal to springs but without the negatives.  So to be clear, by not liking spring-suspended belt-drives, I would not want to be seen to believe that isolation is trivial.