Reference System TT - Dr. Feickert Analogue or Sota

I have a brand new Sota Cosmos and owned a Sapphire for 40 years. 
I have seen Feickert tables but never played with or listened to one. They were never turntables I personally would consider. No suspension, no vacuum, no dust cover. Three strikes. 

The Sota is not a glitzy turntable. The plinth is nice in wood but plain in comparison to other tables its price range. The corners are usually said to be dove tails. They are not. They are finger joints which are easier to make and assemble. Areas that did not affect the turntable's performance are done in a straight forward, simple and inexpensive way. But, where it counts it has it in spades. The new tonearm board is a work of art, weights a ton and broke a 1" drill bit drilling the hole for the Schroder CB. The board was fortunately unharmed. The drive is dead silent and deadly accurate. The dust cover is another work of art, vastly superior to the old one. The vacuum system is also dead silent and it works great. It has only failed to seal two records both of which were so badly warped they were sent back for replacements. Vacuum will not remove abrupt warps. It will flatten a record that is not perfectly flat and it will dampen the entire record perfectly making the record function as if it were as thick as the platter. Record weight does not matter anymore. The sub chassis which you can only see with the platter removed is another work of CNC art.

Mounted is a Schroder CB arm which fits the Sota perfectly and is a wonderful arm. Very pleased with it. The cartridge is a Soundsmith Voice which is a high output Sussurro. I have been impressed with it also but it is still young and I need to listen more. It certainly tracks very well. It is set up Lofgren B. The other arm that I really like on Sotas is the Kuzma 4 Point 9. I prefer the Schroder but it is $1300 more expensive. he Schroder fits better because the tonearm cable exits under the tonearm board not over. 

This combination is so silent I have looked on several occasions to make sure the lift is down. It is as stable as a turntable can get. There is very little that bothers it. You can turn the volume up and tap hard anywhere on the plinth or dust cover and you will hear nothing. I use a conductive sweep arm. On the old table I did not have vacuum or it's special mat. If I dropped the sweep arm on the record while playing you could here a soft thump. On this table you here absolutely nothing. No matter what I put on the record the speed returns to 33.333 +- 0.002 rpm You can change the speed (pitch) in 0.1 rpm increments if you want. 

The performance of the Nova is going to be very similar especially if you get vacuum and the Eclipse package. The big difference is the material the sub chassis is made of. The Cosmos is 1" thick aircraft aluminum and the Nova is a composite with an aluminum bracket under the tonearm board. 

The company is great to deal with. I have talked to both owners, Donna and Christan on many occasions. The day the table arrived Christan called to make sure I was ok with it. You will hear this from many others.

Because of it's suspension and vacuum clamping system the Sotas are in a whole different league the the Feickerts and many other similar turntable making the Sota's some of the very best values in high performance turntable. Other turntables of similar performance are the Basis tables, the SME table and Mark Dohmann's Helix turntables, all considerably more expensive than the Sota and not near as nice to use. All these other turntables are suspended (isolated) but, their sub chassis are exposed. You can not put your hand down on them without getting everything bouncing. The Sota's sub chassis is covered, floating inside the plinth. You can put your hand down on it to cue the record. You do not have to be so careful around it. The dust cover is attached to the plinth's cover. You can raise and lower it without bothering the tonearm. You can turn the volume up and bang on it and you hear nothing. The other turntables do not even have dust covers although Mark Dohmann related in an email that he is working on one for the Helix that will probably be hinged from the power base.

The only negative comment  I have so far is that I personally think the finish on the wood could be better without adding much to the cost. I will be refinishing mine shortly to match the system's cabinet.

Pictures of the table are on my system page. Please feel free to ask any questions.

I would select the Dr Feickert over the SOTA. I have heard both and the SOTA is not as dynamic sounding.

In your price range an alternative suggestion is the AMG Viella 12, A great table with a great tonearm.

@mijostyn- well said and I share your experience.  I bought a Sapphire 3 in 1992 and used it up until last year.  I now have a Star V vacuum with the Series VI motor but Donna is building me a Nova VI vacuum which should be ready by December.  I am trading in my Star.  It started as a discussion for a new belt and springs which lead to how about the magnetic bearing and what about the Eclipse/Condor package and suddenly I'm getting a new turntable!  Their trade up program is not bad at all.  My first exposure to Sota was in 1988.  I was impressed with their design and engineering.  I finally got one myself.  I kind of wished I had upgraded to vacuum many years back but I was happy with the Sapphire.  Until the record is perfectly coupled to the platter, there is not much to talk about.  Adding rings and weights to a record seems like a good idea?

As an owner of a Sota Nova VI with mag lev bearing and Eclipse controller/tachometer package, I would recommend it. Most of the observations made by @mijostyn describing his Cosmos are spot on. The long-proven reliable vacuum system and rock solid suspension were meaningful differentiators at the price point. Series VI improvements like the beefy aluminum bracing in the subchasis were worth the wait vs. Series V. 

Due to budget, I've been using an Audiomods V arm with micrometer and continuous run of silver wiring. Kuzma 4point9 is my wishlist arm on this table. SME V is a popular proven combo favored by Sota, When they were still in production, Sota also recommended the Jelco 850 series for more modest budgets. Agree with @chakster that if you want a Schick arm it must be paired with a low compliance cartridge. Not that it won't work with a Sota or Feickert, but those setups are far more commonly mated with better vintage tables(e.g. Garrard 301,401).

I've heard both Feickert models mentioned at dealers. The Blackbird is nice, but almost double the price of the Nova VI (So is the SME15 that was suggested by Raul). 

My experience in dealing with Donna at Sota was always "above and beyond". You can trust the people at Sota. In these days of supply chain chaos, any dealings with bespoke and boutique companies require trustworthy, candid relationships more than ever. Should you ever need a new custom cut armboard, replacement part or want to consider a future upgrade, Sota will be responsive and treat you like family. They won't just look to take your money like some others. I would recommend searching forums for user service issues on any brands considered. I considered a tonearm from one of the companies mentioned in one the replies above, but eliminated it after reading of frequent QA issues from owners. Cheers,

Spencer

Tony, it just increases wear on normal bearings. You are going to love the vacuum and guess what! It will remove some warps! Last night I discovered that the second copy of Lorrena McKennitt's 20th Anniversary Book of Secrets was just as warped as the first copy which I returned. 
The vacuum starts automatically when you start the turntable. It pumps like crazy until the record is sucked down then goes into it's low pressure mode. If the record does not seal the pump goes back into standby mode after 20 seconds or so. What I did was lift the lip of the mat up against the high section of the record on startup. I let it go after about 1/6th of a revolution. It sucked the record right down to dead flat! The pump actually starts up a split second before the record starts spinning. This probably will not work with really abrupt warps but it will work with about 90% of the warped records. It all depends on the lip making a complete seal. the turntable will easily rack this record. The problem is that the warp was bad enough to be audible which totally destroys the fantasy of being at the concert. I'm not going to send this one back because more than likely then entire run is warped and I can play this one. 
@jperry, if the Sota was not as dynamic sounding there was a problem with the tonearm and/or cartridge and their matching. Due to three items the Nova and Cosmos are going to out perform any unsuspended table that resides in the same room as the speakers. The suspension, vacuum and an isolated dust cover. If this were F1 the Sota would be outlawed just like Nikki Lauda's fan car. 

Tony, what cartridge and arm do you plan on using?