Does Anyone Know the History of the Early Sota Turntables?

I think in their earliest days, the Sapphire was marketed as a kit. A friend of mine who was technically savvy bought the kit and assembled it. He invited me over for its inaugural spin. This was just a test to see whether it would come up to speed and hold speed. He pressed the start button, and we both watched as the platter spun up faster and faster, far exceeding 33 rpm. In fact, the platter began to lift up off the bearing well, and I feared it was about to take flight, whereupon I ducked under the table. He pulled the plug at that point. Turns out he had neglected to connect something in one arm of the servo system. That early Sapphire was a bare bones TT with a nice wood plinth, not unlike that of the current Sapphire. I think it had the sapphire bearing, but I have no idea about the platter. Anyway, you own one. You are in the best position to assess the build quality and technical aspects.

@lewm That is interesting, I don’t believe I ever heard that bit of info. I know there was a SOTA Gem turntable that predated the Sapphire model.

Removing a platter on the earlier SOTA is not a straightforward task. You have to unbolt the bearing assembly from the bottom and lift the platter and well out as one unit. Then if you want to get to the thrust plate you have to unbolt the clamshell that holds them together. Taking one apart is not much fun.

I have taken a stethoscope to the table and listened to the motor and main bearing. Both are dead quiet, I cannot even hear any residual noise at all. It is really quite impressive. 

I am curious to know if the first generation platter is all aluminum or if it was a composite. If all aluminum I think there was a Supermat that was used to damp it. I find it odd that a google search brings up next to nothing on the early generation tables.

you could call them up. I think they are in WI, assuming you are in the US.

I owned two Sapphires in 1985-7.  I had trouble with hyperextended springs with both, and moved on to a Well Tempered TT/TA, which was new then, and kept it for 30+ years.

I also owned a Sapphire in about ‘86 w/ a Souther Linear Tracking Arm. It had excellent resistance to foot falls w/ it’s then unique hanging suspension. The platter was all aluminum. The arm board was just cheap MDF secured / basically dry wall screws & overall quality of construction not great. I sold it for the newest VPI at the time which had noticeably better pace & dynamics.

The Souther Arm was a bear to set up & align; when you changed one parameter, they all changed! It was a good concept & could sound very good. Lou Souther sold the rights to Clearaudio whose linear arm  today is based on it.