Early SOTA vs New Something: Conundrum
Hiya,
In a nutshell:
I have a Series I SOTA Star from prior to 1986. I've had it about 12 years. It has early AudioQuest B300 cartridge. The Sumiko MDC-800 Arm is the best part of the unit. No modifications. No maintenance ever as far as I know.
The Arm was installed where a previous arm sat (not by me) and is not positioned correctly.
It needs at least a new cartridge. But after a chat on the phone with SOTA, it sounds like after these years (plus the arm mis-location) it needs a bit more than that. Upgrades, adjustments etc...
I could do a new cartridge, but it appears a waste without doing other needed work to the TT.
Cartridge, Tonearm board with other needed upgrades I'm looking at about the price of a new table. Such as a Technics 1200G or some such version of.
Time to jump ship? Or I could ignore it all and continue to run it as is. It honestly doesn't sound horrible. Not great either. But bad enough I don't play vinyl much anymore in favor of CD- digital
I do have an extensive LP collection and wouldn't mind listening to it...
Cheers,
RW
Thanks for all the replies I have taken a first step by ordering an AT ART9XI cartridge The tonearm is solid even if it's not in optimal position. This will show me what I can expect going forward with the SOTA as-is. Or, to see what is SOrTA deficient (haha see what I did there?! ;-) and what repairs for SQ are needed. If I end up getting a different table I will at least have a good cartridge to go on it.
Cheers, RW
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I found this in a similar thread:gyneguy225 OP83 posts I spoke to Donna today, and she still recommends the Origin live tonearm. >I found out that there are a number of upgrades for my 30 year old SOTA for about $3000 total, but I'll still have a 30yo turntable. I'm stepping back a bit, and considering that it will cost me a fortune to get the analog system to sound anywhere near as good as my digital. So, I'll see how it sounds with the Kiseki cartridge, and decide whether to go forward from there or give up.<
yes I agree, We are on the same page it appears |
I own a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse and have owned a gen III Star Sapphire so am familiar with the earlier tables. My opinion is that a refurbished SOTA is going to be a far better table than the Technics. Especially if you go with the magnetic bearing, the phenolic sub chassis, and the Eclipse motor package. I also suppose you would get a lead and acrylic arm board. The Sumiko arm you have is highly regarded even today, so it is worth keeping. Certainly not cheap but you get a table that is going to perform superbly and is smartly engineered. The SOTA suspension is one of the best out there, the magnetic bearing is going to have the lowest noise floor, and the motor controller provides a level of speed stability that is remarkable for a belt drive, and while a direct drive might be tenths or hundredths of percentage points more accurate, it is not enough of a difference to offset every other aspect that it is less capable of than the suspended design with lower friction bearing assembly. My vote is get an updated SOTA. |
An update: The new SOTA belt came in. I know I had replaced it once before years ago, but this one is quite different. Much narrower in width and quite a bit shorter. Whatever; it works very well. The old belt took a number of seconds to reach speed- due to slippage I am sure. The new one pops right up to speed in about two seconds or so. The new AT ART9xi cartridge has been installed. Incredible improvement there as well. I had installed a new stylus into the AQ B200 a few years ago, but this new AT cartridge is lightyears ahead in all respects. Considering it will improve over a number of hours still, I am quite shocked with the superior sound quality right out of the box.
All I can say is this gives a much better sound for what Analog is known for- and I had allowed to slip away all these years...
Cheers, RW |
