OK, David Fletcher was behind both Sumiko and SOTA. The first table Marketed by SOTA was the Sapphire. I had an original one with a Syrinx PU3 Tonearm for almost 40 years and it is still in use in a young audiophiles system. All I ever did was replace belts and lube the bearing. I never had any problem with stretched springs and can only assume these turntables were misused perhaps by using tonearms that were too heavy. The PU3 was a perfect arm for that table. The motor was an AC synchronous with a synthesized drive. You could adjust pitch. The bearing was inverted with a hardened steel ball on a sapphire thrust plate. The platter was aluminum and rang like a bell. I used a felt covered glass mat which was very effective in controlling the ringing.
This was a landmark turntable. It was the first stable suspended turntable effectively isolating the cartridge from everything over 3 Hz. SOTA would become the first to provide vacuum clamping in a consumer turntable. Through the years the table has maintained it's essential character, but with steady evolution in bearings, platters, mats and drives culminating in the current Cosmos which has a 1" thick sub chassis like an SME.
Over the years the company has passed through two different owners, the current being Christan Griego. Christan is starting to move the company away from it's core product in a direction some of us might not like. The New Millennium will not be suspended and will allow the use of three arms of any weight. Sota is also working on a direct drive turntable which is also not suspended. David Fletchers main contribution to turntable design was the hanging suspension tuned to 2-3 Hz. This was a far more stable design that was eventually copied by Avid, SME and Basis. The problem is heavy and /or multiple arms upset the suspension. It would have to be retuned and possibly re springed to accommodate arms of various masses and numbers. Therein lies the real challenge, developing a suspended turntable that will allow the use of heavy and multiple arms without having to resort to major restructuring, something the owner could manage at home.
Make sure you get a new belt and clean the rim of the platter with brake cleaning fluid until you cloth or paper towel does not turn black. A worn belt will cause a marked increase in wow and flutter. Be very careful with the arms you try. Stick with 9" arms of intermediate to lower mass. The SME IV and V are good examples. Origin Live and Rega arms work well and IMHO the Schroder CB is the best arm for that table unless you can find a Syrinx PU 3 in good condition. I thought so much of my Sapphire that I now own a Cosmos Vacuum table handily the best value in a high end turntable even with the new price increases.
