Sota Eclipse packages for VPI tables.

@hattrick15 

Sorry, I didn't see the question until now.

For the TNT, it was a matter of removing the old motor and the old captive power cord, I removed the the switch and routed the power in connector where the switch was mounted.  The Sota motor fit, but was slightly too tall to sit directly on the motor housing, so I used some small washers as a spacer.  Then I wired everything up with their connectors, as there's no motor control circuitry required.

Installation is considerably easier if you have an IEC power connector on your motor housing, as Sota can provide a replacement that routs the power connections thru.

I could have had Sota mill the motor well out another 1/4" or so, but I decided not to.

Then the power connector attaches to the output of the Condor, the Roadrunner attaches to the the Condor, and also to a sensor board that you install according to instructions.  Then you attach a small magnet on the underside edge of the platter, and attach the sensor board to the plinth so that the magnet passes over the sensor.  It took me maybe 45 minutes, and was pretty easy, but I'm very comfortable with electronics having built tube preamps and amps in the past.

I couldn't be more happy, speed is +/- .005 rpm.  The motor is audibly more quite and produces much less vibration than the stock Hurst motors that VPI provides.  If you run a VPI motor without the housing, you can literally feel the motor cogging when running free.  There's no vibration from the Sota motor under any circumstances that I've observed.

I have another table with a VPI motor, same platter, and a SDS.  Speed stability is slightly better with the Sota package, and though it's hard to tell because they have different suspensions, plinths and tonearms, I think the Sota setup is quieter, has better pace, and better, deeper bass.

@vinylzone , very helpful!  Thanks the all of the detail.

Having a new Sota Cosmos with the full set up I can attest to it being a top notch drive system, cleverly engineered. As drives go I can not imagine it getting much better than this. My table runs +- 0.002 rpm and is dead silent. With a stethoscope on the top of the plinth you can not hear a thing.... assuming I am not deaf yet.

I can think of one other upgrade that might improve a VPI turntable. Clearaudio sells replacement bearings for it's turntables. These have opposing magnets for a thrust mechanism. These are very quiet bearings, much superior to what VPI uses.. I think one can be made to fit but it will require some machining of the plinth and platter. 

Unless the VPI platter has the same mass and distribution of mass that is characteristic of Clearaudio platters with the mag lev feature, I would be very cautious about making such a big change to the bearings of the VPI. Anyway, there is probably nothing wrong with VPI bearings. And mag lev is a potential can of worms. What is the evidence that Clearaudio bearings per se are "much quieter" than VPI bearings?

@hattrick15 Any time.  I'm always glad to be able to share my experience if it's relevant.