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

@chakster 

When you flip your record, do you stop the turntable each time? On my old SOTA, I just grabbed the record while the platter was turning and flip it. With hard surfaces like copper, I am thinking it would damage the record if you grab it while the platter is still turning.

Jay, Yeah, but with a good DD, there is a brake that stops the platter on a dime, and it takes seconds to get back up to speed.  So stopping the rotation in order to change or turn over the LP is not going to cause any extra delay. 

Along the lines of Atma-sphere's theme, besides the SP10R or the SL1200G, very few DD aficionados these days use the OEM plinths that were supplied along with the typical DD turntable in the vintage days.  I personally favor high mass and constrained layer damping, along with an energy absorbent shelf that could do its work by any of several modalities. Heck, I wouldn't even look down on a spring-supported shelf if done properly.  MC seems to have done that. Nor do most use the thick rubber mats that also were normal fare in days of yore.  Those definitely killed the sound.  (See also the many posts by Chakster and others regarding preferable mats.)

There is no stress at all for DD motor, but if you don’t want to scratch your record sirface on a metal mats (flipping it when the platter is on) you have to press stop button first. If your mat is felt mat (slipmat) you don’t have to worry about it, because felt mat can’t damage your vinyl even if you will rotate the record to opposite direction on the spinning plater. This is why deejay using felt mats only (slipmats) on Technics.


I don’t use felt mats on any of my turntables in the main system, so I can flip the records only when rotation is off.

@lewm, I though your problem with your Sota was speed variation? The Sota's suspension lacks real damping so it will bounce if you get it started but since the sub chassis is enclosed that does not represent much of a problem. The MinusK platforms are not dampened either. People have complained of them bouncing if you lean on them. The heavy mass approach does not work well at all. Place you tonearm down on a record with the turntable off. Watch the woofer or subwoofer move. In you case it would be the diaphragm if you can see it. Have someone jump on the floor while you observe the woofer. With the Sota you will see nothing. That is working pretty good in my book. 
@atmasphere , I know Ralph, that is why I always reference my opinion as coming from the distant past. I just love rubbing chakster the wrong way:-)  The real issue for me is because of my long term use of subwoofers with ESLs isolation is more important to me than absolute speed accuracy although Sota's new drive seems to be very close to DD standards none of them have a suspension I would care to run with subwoofers and mine run 5 dB up from zero at 20 Hz which is what it takes to load the room correctly. I have had solid plinth tables here to set up for friends and even with a concrete floor the subwoofer drivers flutter.
I'm sure your plinth was better. If you have one of your turntables around it would be interesting to install Sota's Eclipse system and see what you get. If the wow and flutter are down at 0.03% or even less than 0.05% I can't see how you could want better than that. I think the SP10R is down around 0.02%. That difference is totally inaudible where as lack of a suspension is totally audible.