And I’ve had the same FR64fx arm, with a few of the same cartridges, mounted across a couple SOTAs and a couple of the CA Innovation decks. Some of the same cartridges again mounted on VPIs, albeit with VPI’s arms - didn’t try and mount an FR there.
There are indeed sonic differences between decks, but it’s harder to parse out how much of that is reflecting the tables’ energy management versus the isolation you’ve got on hand. It would be best to do these comparisons on solid concrete slab, which I didn’t have. And of course, table should ideally be positioned quite far from speakers. The CA and VPI decks are both extremely dependent on isolation for optimal performance, and they’re each reactive / problematic in different frequency ranges. The CA’s in subsonics, and the VPIs in audible bass. That’s where I suspect some of the "ballsy", bass-heavy and "dark" sound of VPI comes from. SOTAs are really nice in that they have amazing isolation built in. You still need them on a rigid stand, but they solve so many problems on their own. Bass energy is very hard to isolate against without properly tuned springs or repositioning.
Once you take care of isolation (as much as feasible), the sonic differences between tables are notable and meaningful, but not night-and-day. These are all very well built, premium decks - we’re not talking about entry-level MDF planks. Your transducer choice and its match to phono stage (particularly MC stage) weighs in much more, IMO.
On a spectrum - VPI’s were the darkest sounding for me, CA Innovations quite clean / neutral (living up to the brand name), and SOTAs just a tad on the warm side. I enjoyed the VPIs most with cartridges that I would find just a touch too "treble happy" on the other decks. From what I can extrapolate, the VPI arms seem sonically very much of the same vein as their tables - especially the 3D and Fatboys. I actually ended up preferring the metal unipivot arms as I felt those struck a better balance, and were less reactive to stray bass energy.
Yes, many audiophiles / reviewers tend to upgrade the whole kit & kaboodle at once - so it’s impossible to "isolate" the TT’s contributions in that scenario.
