General comments on SOTA

There is a good historical overview of the evolution of the SOTA tables in TAS Issue 210 (Feb. 2011), written by Paul Seydor. Concerning the speed stability issue, he has this to say:

The DC Papst motor, the one real bete noire of the early Sapphires, has long since been replaced by a superior high-grade AC synchronous motor. In older Sapphires the motor was mounted via an undamped metal plate to the plinth; in the new ones, a damped plate with rubber-encased well-nuts acts as a kind of shock absorber. Together these changes result in even greater speed constancy and retrieval of musical detail.

On my early model Sapphire, purchased in 1983 and still going strong without ever having been serviced(!) or upgraded, I've certainly noticed a slight speed instability at times (mainly on piano notes), which I've presumed is mainly due to "hunting" by the servo motor that was used in the early models. I have not found it to be severe enough to be significantly bothersome, though, so I've never seriously considered sending the table in for upgrade. YMMV.

On another note, one thing that never fails to amaze me about the table is that I can pound my fist on the plinth while a record is playing, with moderate force (I've never tried heavy force), without the slightest audible consequences. Try that with a Linn, or pretty much any other table that is in a similar price range! Actually, don't try that with a Linn :-)

Regards,
-- Al

I have been a Sota owners for 25 years (Star, Nova, Cosmos IV) and would never own anything else except, perhaps, a Basis. Why a Basis? Vacuum hold down.
Once you have experienced vacuum hold down with warped/dished record you will never go back to anythings else.

So, in response to the OP, ABSOLUTELY. Go with a Sota and a Cosmos if you can afford it.
My 2 cents anyway.
Sly

Al, Do you agree that the classic Papst tt motor is DC? If so, I have been laboring under the delusion that they were AC. But since I have never owned a tt with a Papst motor, the consequences to me of my ignorance are nil.

My oldest and dearest audio buddy built one of the original SOTA "kits" with that servo-controlled motor. He invited me over to his house for the first audition, for him as well as me. He fired it up, and together we watched as the platter got up to speed, and then just kept on going faster and faster until it seemed for sure that it would lift off the spindle and go flying across the room. We looked at each other and laughed out loud, as he reached for the wall plug. He had incorrectly hooked up one of the feedback circuits.

I found the piano reproduction unsatisfactory, with my 1990 vintage SS3, but I did not know any better; I thought that was just something normal for vinyl reproduction or that the distortion was "on the recording". Then in the early 2000s I bought a Notts Hyperspace - much better on piano. Then I added a Walker Audio Motor Controller - much much better yet. Then I discovered what a good idler- or direct-drive can do in terms of speed stability. But the Cosmos sounds very much better, also, compared to my now vintage SS3.

Hi Lew,

I'm fairly certain that the Pabst motor used in the early Sapphire's was 24VDC. I believe some of the Oracle models also used that motor, btw.

Thanks for recounting those experiences. I believe that the platter weighs about 14 pounds; I wouldn't have wanted to be nearby if the miswire had turned it into a frisbee :-)

Best regards,
-- Al

I bought my SOTA Sapphire 6 months out of college in 1986 and a year later upgraded it to the vacuum version, then called the Star. It served me flawlessly for 25 years. End of last year I sent it to SOTA and traded it in for a new Cosmos IV. These tables are pretty much bullet-proof. And, SOTA is run by nice folks who truly try to serve their customers over the long-haul. My room setup required a classy-looking TT, and the military look of some competitors' TTs simply would not do. My Cosmos looks like a piece of fine furniture and sounds like a dream. The sum total of the above creates customer loyalty with me. Go get yourself one.