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Upgrade Sota Comet or buy a used table?

I presently have a Sota Comet first generation table with a discontinued LMT2? tonearm. The bearing is gone in the tonearm and my best option so far is to upgrade the table. If I do upgrade it will be to a complete SOTA factory refurbished Comet with a S 301 tonearm. I am leaning strongly to trading in my Comet and paying $695 plus shipping of about $100.
Does this make more sense than buying a more expensive table such as a VPI Aries used for $1,000 to $1,200, and selling my Comet for $200? I am of the opinion I could still sell my "like new Comet" later for close to what I paid for the upgrade.
I presently have a Sumiko Blackbird cartridge which I plan to keep.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2x2bgeorge
steelhead
318 posts
 
Your call of course. The VPI would give you a little different flavor and you might prefer it.

SOTA is a great company and I went from a sapphire to a cosmos MKIV and I am done and super satisfied with my vinyl.

The sapphire was a great table and sometimes they come up used at really good price points.

I would think the Aries would be an upgrade to the Comet and depending on how long you have been spinning it might be fun to make a change and try it. I do not know how Comet's go on the used market but I would think the upgrade makes sense from a sale down the road perspective.

Have Fun.
recordho
49 posts
 
Why don't you just change the arm to a Rega 301 or older RB300? If the table is working then that would be the wise thing to do. I feel the Aries is a superior table to the Comet and offers better isolation, etc.
manitunc
795 posts
 
I would go with the upgrade. The table will easily be worth what you paid for it if you want to sell later. Or how about upgrading to a Sapphire now. I have and do own a number of Sotas and they are well worth the money at each level. My Cosmos IV is the best table I have ever owned or heard.
thesoundhouse
250 posts
 
I had an VPI Aries that I recently got on trade. It sold fast. It is a "NICE" sounding turntable but I preferred my buddy's new Sota Comet to the VPI. More music seemed to be difference. The Sota just had more information. It was clearer smoother and had a much better tonal balance. Oddly enough we used a Sumiko Blackbird as our test cartridge on both tables. Keep in mind that there many differences and that the VPI given a different cartridge and could sound better than the Comet. For the test to be completely fair we would have to have the same tonearm on both tables just like we did with the cartridge.
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