SOTA questions (plural)

Most of us have these issues. Of late, I've resorted to working with shops that have a liberal return policy. That's how I ended up with my speakers. I listened to everything I could reasonably drive to that was interesting, then I had a set of speakers mailed to me with a 30-day return window. I ended up returning the stands and keeping the speakers. Nothing like an in-home demo!

 

That's one thing about living in Phoenix...both dealers are in walking distance. LOL.

 

So the end user cannot align a cart with a SOTA table? That is nuts! What if it is an SME arm and it is installed at time of purchase. So if one switches cartridges later, it cannot be aligned? The reason I ask is that SME allows the entire arm to be slid fore and aft in order to align a cart. At least that was my understanding. I have purchased AccuTrak protractor for every table I have owned. This link shows the required information for him to make one.

http://www.accutrak.us/standard-definition.html

So none of this is available from SOTA? Or would it relate more to the specs of the arm from the arm manufacturer?

 

I have my dealer do alignments and stuff. At my age, I do not have the eyesight or the manual dexterity anymore. Plus, he picks up and delivers.

 

Is he a SOTA dealer? Well, I guess not from reading the thread. However, this begs the question: How do SOTA dealers such as Needle Doctor align the SOTA tables with whatever cartridge the customer chooses to have mounted? And whatever arm they choose, for that matter.

 

NOPE ! There are zero SOTA dealers in AZ.

 

According to SOTA's website, none in FL either.

 

I am not following why it is said you cannot align a cartridge on a Sota table?
Mine is a regular 3-dimensional object, arm board screwed down flat and tight, what am I missing...?

 

Yeah, I checked in the past. I would have to go to an online dealer.

 

I am not willing to buy something so expensive without hearing it. Two major reasons....I did it before and it was disaster and because of all of the negative comments on here.

 

Rega or its dealers do indeed advertise. I just saw an advertisement for 'Rega Turntables' on The Atlantic website (not even an audio site!), just because I had gone to Rega's website recently or maybe because I'd been in that new Planar 6 thread a lot. Seems to be some sort of 'Google ads' hoodoo voodoo.

But, point is, Rega already has mindshare. SOTA needs mindshare. Of the two, who has the greater need to advertise? And who is more likely to get some new reviews (again, another form of advertising) over the next few months?

Sure. But what was the discussion we just had about how 'it takes money'? It takes money to update the line. And, of course, VPI advertises plenty alongside of updating its lineup.

SOTA has one below $1000, and three below $2000. And there are some turntable makes that don't even have that, i.e. are much more expensive, even for the bottom models.

I dunno, Phx. You have legit concerns, but I think they're running up against the legit reality of SOTA's financial means.

But you could email Donna and have a polite conversation about it. I think if you were diplomatic and kind about it, you'd probably get all the answers you seek..
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I'm talking about a Rega arm in my case and my table. I have never been able to confirm pivot to spindle for all the models, but I've measured mine at 219.5 mm, which I believe corresponds to the original Baerwald spec. but not Rega’s.

I've made a protractor for myself that works very well. I've always assumed that a universal would work, however I’ve always pondered the accuracy of visually aligning a protractor above the pivot point as some have you do. I could throw mine off as much though with a poor job of cutting out the spindle hole.

 

My reply disappeared.....I don't know SOTA's financial position. You seem to have a better handle on that. I think Rega will get the limelight with reviews of the P6 and they will be glowing. I can only think of 2 SOTA's under $2K...the Comet and Satellite. The Satellite looks like a box. I agree with everything that you state. I am just going to sit back and see what happens. Armchair audio.

 

I don't, actually. I'm educated-guessing based on their apparent strategy.

This is also why I recommended talking (nicely) to Donna, as only she knows for sure what they're doing and why, I'd think.

They have the Moonbeam as well. $850. It looks pretty nice too, if maybe a bit spartan.




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Do you have an opinion about how the Moonbeam compares against the Rega line?

 

I personally don't much like the apparent SOTA 'house sound' (though I get that I'm not everybody), so I'm a bad person to ask.

And nearly all of my SOTA listening has been the Sapphire anyway.

The low-end SOTA that seems to get the accolades is the Comet, though.
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I don't think I even knew Kirk had passed. I bought my Sapphire in 2008 and had it serviced by Sota in 2015. Donna always handled most of the emails.

I loved it with my Shelter 501 Mk 2 and don't like it so much with the Ortofon Black on there now. I am having the Shelter fixed at Soundsmith and am hoping it will not be too difficult to set up when I get it back. Might get a Feickert protractor for the job.

The Sapphire was great in my prior 200 year old house that shook when a truck passed or you walked across the floor. My old Music Hall table , a 5 or 7 I think, would skip even with vibration isolation for the cabinet and table. The Sapphire never had any issue.

 

Could you elaborate on the SOTA "house sound" as to what it is, exactly? Independent of cartridge choice I mean.

 

For me, quite 'CD-like'. Tight, extended bass, with a somewhat 'hard' upper midrange/lower treble.

Analytical, detailed, but not very musical, and not very fun to listen to. YMMV.
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Might well be a mismatch between arm and cart. They all have some moments of frustration in particular frequency ranges.

 

I had a sota moonbeam at the time and it was certainly competitive with any similar entry-level audiophile tt of it's day (mainly rega, not sure what else was really around in the 90s). I think it came with a rega arm and still cost under $500 back then.

 

Mine doesn't.

 

I would put the Moonbeam between the Rega Planar 1 and Planar 2. The Moonbeam uses the better RB202 or RB220 arm...whichever SOTA has on hand at the time of build. So the Moonbeam has a better tonearm than the Planar 1. But the Moonbeam has a lightweight platter. Tested speed was fast and unstable on the Moonbeam. The Planar 2 has a heavy glass platter that should result in better speed stability.