Acoustic Signature turntables

@plinko , The magnetic bearings I am familiar with are very stiff. If you push down on the platter there is no noticeable give. In the case of the Sota what you have are opposing neodymium ring magnets, one on the sub chassis  surrounding the spindle and the other on the mating end of the bearing which is machined into the platter. With the platter installed there might be a 1/64th" space between the two which is the equilibrium point between the magnetic field strength and the weight of the platter. Pushing down on the platter raises the intensity of the field dramatically. It is virtually impossible to make the magnets touch. The magnets will last a whole lot longer than you. The bearing would probably wear out first.

Heavier platters do have more inertia and that is a good thing up to a point then it is all about male testosterone levels. There are plenty of turntables with less massive platters that have SOTA wow and flutter specs. There is more pitch variation generated by irregularities of the record than there is speed irregularities of the turntable like warps and off center spindle holes.

Clear audio's bearing is fine with it's more expensive models.

There is more pride in knowing that your turntable produces the best performance by virtue of it's design. Watch this video all the way through. It will teach you a lot about turntables in general. 

If you have a Kuzma dealer near by look at the Ref 2. Good table for the money. I think the Stabi M is his best turntable. SME makes fine turntables as does Basis but of all of then the Sota is handily the best value. For $10K you can have a great suspension, vacuum clamping and a state of the art drive system. Only Basis makes a similar turntable at this moment and it costs 3 times as much.

My current table is a thread driven high mass design with a opposing magnets on the plinth and platter to reduce bearing stress. I have both AC-thread (original) and DC belt drive on the same table, the later an add on from Galibier designs.  I prefer the DC motor rigid belt from Galibier. It actually doesn't measure as good as the thread drive AC motor when analyzed with the Fieckert Adjust + but it is close. The difference in presentation I hear is that the Galibier motor and belt bring the performers into the room a little more and bring out dynamics compared to a little more laid back presentation of the original AC-thread drive. I have a feeling that the difference is more due to the better grip on the platter with the rigid belt drive from Galibier.  

Kuzma also uses a rigid belt and DC motor design.  I encourage you to audition the Stabi R/M or Ref2.  I also had the opportunity to borrow a friends TechDas V with an SME 3012.  You need to audition one of those too. I would have no concerns about the compressor as implemented by TechDas.  It is totally silent.  The TechDas imaged a little more precisely than either motor implementations on my table and kept the incredible dynamics.  The vacuum hold down was also very nice.

Have fun and take your time. You cant go wrong if you buy what you liked hearing the best. My future table will likely be a Galibier, Kuzma or TechDas.... 

@plinko , If you are near Graham Engineering you are also near me. I live right across the border in southern New Hampshire. You are also not far from the Basis factory in Hollis, NH and they love to have visitors. IMHO the Basis Inspiration is a better turntable than anything TechDas makes. This may raise some eyebrows but when it comes to turntables simplicity is always best and TechDas goes about things in the most complicated fashion possible which has to lead to more reliability issues down the line. 

When Life Gives You Lemons

When Acoustic Signature made their US appearance in 2002 with the Final Tool, I decided to take the plunge after the positive Stereophile review by Mr. Fremer. I planned to make this my last table and it was a financial stretch for me at the time. The warranty for the power supply was for two year years and wouldn’t you know it failed about 20 months in. I sent it back to Germany and used the repaired version for another year when it failed again. Mr. Froenhofer refused to give me further service for his ’lemon’ power supply. He even went so far to say there was something wrong with my electricity?!? On the shelf went this still new table.

Lucky for me, the excellent fellows at Needle Doctor (now sadly defunct), felt my pain and corroborated AS’s lack of concern for their customers. They let me buy any table I wanted virtually at cost. I ended up with a Pro-Ject RPM 10 which has served me in stellar fashion to this day.

During the pandemic I was bringing my system up to endgame status researching everything I did not know about stereo. Along the way, I got the itch to explore PS and /or motor replacement possibilities for the AS $2500 aluminum brick sitting on the shelf for 15+ years. I stumbled across the Origin Live motor replacement kit. I studied their suggestions and determined that I could refabricate the AS motor pod to accommodate the OL motor. Success!

I purchased an Audio Technia mono cartridge, brought out from storage a leather mat and a retired iFi microphono 2 phono stage with an Sbooster PS and BINGO : LEMONADE! I would never have done this without the tragic comedy of errors. I now have a new toy that allows me to enjoy my several hundred mono LPs in stunning sound.

p.s. After having lived with this setup for a couple of months I became used to the sound, and it became apparent that this was underperforming sonically to my other front-ends. I decided to experiment with ICs post phono stage. The Audio Quest King Cobras were too constricting, like Papa Bear. The Anti-Cables were too open and uncontrolled, like Mama Bear. But the Kimber Kable Heroes were just right, like Baby Bear. It was stunning to experience this not predictable end result. Cable deniers : you are probably missing out. All is now well in audio heaven!

Dear @singingg : You bad experiences with the AS TT PS can happens with any TT no matters its price level and that kind of experience really can’t speaks for the AS high quality levels.

My 2 AS TT that are running today I bought second hand from an Agoner friend that by coincidence just posted in this thread @aoliviero and he better than me knows for sure how many years has my TTs.

I have each one running with one motor and running with ONE motor PS only that I modified with switchs for I can choose between 3 motors and that PS never showed any single trouble it’s spot on. Yes the 3 motors can run at the same time too, if need it.

R.