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Sota Sapphire arm help?

Hello everybody. So I ended up purchasing a Sota Sapphire on eBay. Came with a Sumiko Premier MMT tonearm. Well, as is turns out, the arm is no good. Rather than send the whole thing back, the seller has agreed to replace the tonearm. The Premiers are pretty tough to come by, so my question is this: How do you match a tonearm to a table that has an armboard for a specific arm? This turntable came with a premade armboard for the Premier, but I'm wondering if I can find a different arm (Rega RB250 or 300 perhaps?) that'd just be an easy swap without having to have a new armboard made. Any help is greatly appreciated. My first "real" turntable shows up & can't even use it yet. Bummer.

Thanks again & happy holidays to all on Audiogon!
geoffj85
onemug
784 posts
 
>>>>How do you match a tonearm to a table that has an armboard for a specific arm?<<<<

SOTA's armboards are blank. You order one from them telling them what tonearm you have and they cut out the proper hole at the proper place and ship it to you. Call/email them before you buy a particular tonearm in case they don't have the proper template for it.

You also might ask them if there are other tonearms that would fit the MMT one.
rbschauman
138 posts
 
Contact Jeff at SOTA

Had a similar experience on ebay awhile ago. I do not look for audio gear there anymore.
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,780 posts
 
What cartridge are you using? I had that arm years ago and it would resonate so bad I blew my speakers twice. That arm is not a ball of fire. Go for a Rega.
frogman
7,480 posts
 
This should not be a problem.. The spindle to pivot distance is the same for both arms. However, the cutout hole needs to be slightly bigger for the Rega; so, you would have to widen the hole to fit the Rega which uses a collet instead of screws. Good luck.
geoffj85 OP
14 posts
 
Thanks for the responses everyone! I might just have the seller order me a Rega & have Sota make a new board. Seems to be the best option. This is also one of their upgraded boards, I don't really have the tools to make a wider hole. Thanks again for everyone's help!
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