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If you had $500 to spend, how would you spend it?

I own an older but great SOTA Sapphire table that I bought used with an FT-3 arm; I added a Benz MC-20 cartridge. It works and sounds great but I'd like to know if it can be improved. Problem is I only have $500 to spend. I'm looking for advice on how to best spend it. Here are some of my options, as I see them:
1) I live close enought to Chicago that I can drive up with my turntable and have SOTA inspect and adjust the machine ($225)
2) On the phone, Donna from SOTA thinks the first thing I should upgrade is arm board ($250)
3) Her other suggestion is to replace the existing felt mat on platter with acrylic mat(?)
4) I guess I could trade in the MC-20 cartridge for a better Benz cartridge
5) Sell FT-3 and buy better arm (?)
6) None of the above. Apply the $500 towards a vacation with the wife.
I'm looking especially to those of you who are/were SOTA owners to advise me how to best spend my $500.
Thanks in advance

rockyboy
flg2001's avatar
flg2001
543 posts
 
Rockboy: Go for the cartridge upgrade, your table seems to be running fine and no inspection is neccesary. Arm board or felt mat replacement is something you can face later on if ever neccesary.

Consider a Denon 103r MC cartridge, keep in minf it is a MC design so you need your preamp to drive it.

Fernando
bruce_1
96 posts
 
Donate it to one of the tsunami relief organizations. You will never regret showing kindness.
c123666
871 posts
 
Considering one of those 299 buck lateral tracking arms advertised on audiogon....seems rather inexpensive for a lateral arm with an air pump......the fact I managed to screw up one of the wires to the cartridge opens a window of opportunity for another arm (which I can then screw up the wire on that item!).......

anybody use one of these things yet?
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