Calling all Sota fans.

I have a Sota Sapphire from 1984 that I regularly updated until about the turn of the century. I had a certain amount of troubles with it in the early days, but after a couple shaming letters to Sota in Berkeley (this was before email), they sent me a box to ship it back to Berkeley (or was it Oakland?). They completely rebuilt and updated the now groaning-at-every-revolution platter. They did not assign blame for the problem (which I repeatedly denied and am still certain I was not responsible for).  Later(?), they sent me a new drive belt to replace the one that was lending a bit of seasick-inducing wow. No problems since, and I have no zeal to replace it. Of course it didn't hurt when I replaced the Sumiko(?) arm with an Alphason.  

One thing worth mentioning is that many of the experiences posted above are based on the vintage tables originally produced in the 1980s and 90s, which are not representative of the current generation of tables. Over the years SOTA has undergone a steady change, and the current tables have a different designer who has brought a meaningful set of updates to the product line. 

The sapphire bearing has been replaced by a magnetic one, which moves a great bearing assembly forward to a world class one. The platter has been reformulated to have en less of an acoustic presence and the newer SOTA are more balanced tonally, the sub chassis are stiffer and more inert than previous designs, the vacuum module has a better control and monitoring system, the motor is DC with the Phoenix Engineering control system being integrated into the package, and the overall build internally is more precise and of higher quality. 

While the current SOTA models share similar if not the same names to the vintage tables, and have an appearance that looks to be the same, the tables have evolved into a world class product and the vintage tables while nice products are not really representative of the current generation offerings. 

Yes, the latest SOTA series Nova VI / Cosmos V / Millenia Eclipse have upgraded a LOT on the tech and materials. And of course, the vintage SOTA tables were built to be incredibly reliable and sound awesome for the money - plus there are a LOT out there on the market. Great way to start out in this hobby, which is what I did. 

I have an old Series III Sapphire (my first table) I later upgraded to Nova V. Wish I had waited until the current Series VI though - with eclipse package, magnetic bearing, and much more rigid sub-chassis. My Nova is in beautiful Koa wood (SOTA offers choices in exotic woods, which I highly recommend over standard finishes) - that's one thing to note about SOTA, they make a more "traditional" looking a table, complete with dustcover, and do it beautifully. If you're in the high end looking for a table that doesn't look like a spaceship or a science project, then it's going to hard to ignore SOTA Cosmos as probably your best option. 

The ability to completely hold down records with either a ring weight or vacuum hold (which SOTA and TechDas do) is a requirement for me in a high-end table; I don't understand high-end table owners who are OK without one of these. Beyond that and its new Phoenix based speed controller - no, the SOTAs can't compete on paper with all the whiz-bang gimmicks & exotic materials/build (and mass) of the $30K plus super-tables (up well over $100K now). But I also have a Clearaudio Innovation Master (my main table), and it's a bit "cleaner" and more detailed sounding but needs a LOT of isolation care compared to SOTA (in my case a CMS Maxxum Rack). Put a top notch arm & cartridge and phono stage on the little SOTA and...it's pretty darn close! If it was easier to move these around I'd probably swap back and forth. It's kind of fun seeing the old-world SOTA sitting on the high-tech rack!

I talked to Sota yesterday and they have alot of things in the works for their tables in the future. It looks like the company is moving in the right direction and will challenge the top designs available today for sound quality. It is great to see an American company challanging the best tables in the world.

I have stated on many occasions that the Dohmann Helix is my ultimate turntable. Mark Dohmann is an aero-space engineer and very much like Peter Ledermann. He is very approachable.  I have had several discussions with him asking about the Helix and additional upcoming features including vacuum clamping and a dust cover. I never asked which less expensive tables he liked but the Sota is no surprise. He is totally focused on isolation of the cartridge from extraneous vibration. His dust cover is going to be designed specifically to isolate the table from airborne vibration. Sota approaches all these factors albeit in a less ornate fashion and it is the only turntable to do so. 

@dover,  you can get around the recessed arm board by modifying the plinth cover. The real problem is weight. The suspension is adjustable within reason but there are limits and many tone arms, particularly with VTA towers are just too heavy. 12" arms need not apply. But, the Kuzma 4 Point 9,  the Schroder CB and I believe the Reed 2G will fit and these are excellent arms. The Tri Planer will fit with modification.

@neonknight , just a slight correction. The new motor is a 3 phase AC motor. All Sotas use an AC motor of some type.  

IMHO the Sota Cosmos Vacuum is the best turntable you can buy when you factor in cost. My completed Cosmos Vacuum with a Schroder CB arm cost me just shy of $14,000 including a dust cover and reflex clamp. The next turntable I would consider would be the SME 30/2, more than twice the cost. After the SME it's the Dohmann Helix 2. The Sota Cosmos Vacuum does everything the Techdas Air Force 1 does at 1/10 the cost. Perhaps it does not do everything quite as well but at 1/10 the cost I'll take the Sota thank you. The Sapphire remains the all time best value in a high performance table.