Another “How to choose an arm” question

@rauliruegas , Isn't it fun! You bet people would be surprised how it cuts both ways. In reality it is not being fair to vinyl as it has a steep up hill battle but, better is better be it the format or the mastering. What I really love are some of the BluRay concerts that are available like Return to Forever "Returns." It is almost as good as being at the real concert. The audio is spectacular. Another one is Mike Stern's Paris Concert with Dave Weckyl on drums. There are times when vinyl wins. It is like driving a manual. It takes more skill even if it is not as fast. That makes it more fun. Any monkey can slide a disc into a drive:-)

@holmz , all of the arms mentioned above have quiet bearings unless they have been damaged. The real issue with bearings is play. The tonearm has to hold the cartridge rigidly allowing only two degrees of freedom. This is why unipivot arms are not recommended by many of us. The Graham arm mentioned above is a stabilized (by magnets) unipivot arm and has a great reputation. My problem with it is price. I do not think it represents a reasonable value. The same is true of the Basis arms which are not really unipivots either. They are bipivots or unipivots stabilized by a secondary bearing. They do not IMHO represent a reasonable value as there are many arms of equivalent (maybe even better) performance at a much lower price. 

The tonearms I personally like best on the Sota are the SME V, the Kuzma 4 Point 9 and the Schroder CB. The Kuzma has one issue and that is the tonearm cable exits about the tonearm board and interferes with the dust cover. The other arms have cables that exit below the tonearm board resulting in a cleaner installation. I personally chose the Schroder CB for my Cosmos and could not be happier. This year at  AXPONA Sota will be demonstrating with the Schroder CB. Peter Ledermann is totally invested in Schroder tonearms for what it is worth. He demonstrates with a Schroder Reference. 

@holmz , You are getting some really great advice here. As a long term Sota user I would like to add some thoughts. There are several great arms out there that fit the Sota perfectly. As Lew suggests it is always better to stay on the light side as you can always add mass but taking it away can be tough. Your Sota suspension is tuned for a specific tonearm mass. Depending on the age of your table it can be done by adding/subtracting lead shot from a well or using a specifically weighted tonearm board. Once you buy the arm you want to use, weight the arm itself with all the parts attached. Do not weight the cable. Then call Donna at Sota with your Sota's serial number and the tonearm weight. She will supply you with the correct arm board. 

Tonearms that I know work beautifully on the Sapphire and are of top notch design are the Kuzma 4 Point 9, the Origin Live arms, the Rega arms, the Audiomods arm , SME arms and the Schroder CB. There are very few cartridges out there that can not be made to work in any of these arms. IMHO the three best arms are the SME V, the Kuzma 4 Point9 and the Schroder CB. These three hit all design points I want to see in an arm. There are others out there like the Tri Planar which are great arms but will not fit the Sapphire without modifying the plinth.

Would upgrading the arm be worthwhile? I think so, particularly if you go with one of the three arms I mentioned. You will certainly be able to use more cartridges in the medium compliance range. Your SEAC arm is going to work best with something like a Koetsu, cartridges in the lowest compliance group. 

One more point is that you can upgrade your Sota to the Eclipse drive system, the magnetic bearing,  and even a vacuum system. Very few tables can take you that far. 

@rauliruegas , Raul, I do not think the Reeds will fit on a Sota. Arms with VTA towers push the horizontal bearing to the out side edge of the tonearm well and the counter weight hits the outside edge before the arm gets to the run out groove. You would have to cut the plinth away for it to work. 

@rauliruegas , That is true, it is surface mounts and could be mounted on anything you can get to the right distance. Why on gods green earth would you ever consider an external arm pod? The tonearm and the platter have to be rigidly mounted on the same very stiff non resonant structure.                                              Where am I wrong about the SEAC? Is it lighter than I think it is? It looks like a boat anchor. But, I do not know the exact spec so in reality you are right. HOWEVER, the arms I mentioned are a lot lighter and more flexible. (notice, I said nothing about sound) I know you like the SME V so don't screw this up. 

@holmz , I have a brand new Cosmos. I would wait on the Eclipse upgrade. When they unified the two components onto one chassis they chose a complicated switching algorithm that is not working well. The turntable runs fine but when you turn it on it has a tendency to switch speeds so you have to tap the button again to get back to 33. I am on my second unit now and it is better but nowhere near perfect. Personally I think they need to change the design and add a forth switch separating the on/off function from the speed change function. They'll get it figured out eventually. 

As you suggest it would be much more efficient to just get a new cartridge. A low compliance Soundsmith would work great. The Sussurro mkII is the sweet spot in that part of the line. This is a much superior cartridge to any of the Hanas. It is very neutral and tracks great. 

The Reeds will require modifying the plinth. It also might be too heavy but I am not sure. This also goes for the Tri Planar. If you like the Tri Planar you really should have a good look at the Schroder CB. The CB simple as it looks is IMHO a better arm. It is every bit as adjustable, has better bearings, and magnetic anti skate and damping that works fabulously well. 

@holmz , Frank Schroder and Peter Ledermann have been friends for a long time. Peter's demonstration rig has a Schroder Reference Arm on it and there must have been 4 or 5 other Schroder arms hanging around when I was there. 

I am not sure about a transformer with Soundsmith cartridges but you certainly do no have enough gain for a Sussurro. But, what you do have enough gain for is The Voice which is nothing more than a high output Sussurro. Same stylus, same cantilever same drive mechanism. The only difference is the coils have more windings and the compliance is set higher which is the problem for you. At 22 um/mN it might be too soft for your arm. It works perfectly in the Schroder CB. Using the Certal plate I get a horizontal resonance frequency right at 8 Hz. 

With a larger arm like that you really need a Phono stage suitable for low output cartridges. There are several really good high output cartridges out there but the majority of them are mid to high compliance. I think the Nagaoka MP 500 has a lower compliance but I am not sure. You have any number of directions you can head in. I am not a big transformer fan. I do not like more contacts and interconnects in the way of the very low signal from the cartridge. I think if you want to go with a low output cartridge you should upgrade your phono stage. If you want to go high level you will benefit from a lighter arm. @rauliruegas seems to know more about your arm than I do and he might be able to add more advice. 

@lewm , I have extensive experience with The Voice which I own and I have heard the Sussurro but not together in the same system. My feeling is that they sound very much the same. I did not have a chance to subject the Sussurro to a tracking test but I would bet The Voice would do better given it's higher compliance. The Voice is 2 grand less expensive but it really depends on your phono stage and what it works best with. The Voice is as neutral as a Windfeld Ti and even a better tracker. It never looses it composure which I really like. The build quality is as good or better than any cartridge I have used. I would have to make a really big jump to do better which I am in the process of doing. I ordered a Lyra Atlas Lambda SL from Galen Carol Audio in Texas ( he has no idea when it will show up) and it looks like I am going to get a Channel D Seta L Plus phono stage. It can be switched back and forth between voltage and current (transimpedance) modes. It is even better than the Lino C. The only down side is that it is not as versatile. If the Lyra is as good as everyone says it is I'll only need one setup. I'll save my old ARC to play 78's

@rauliruegas , This is true but holmz was asking our advise indicating that he is a little uncomfortable making the decision on his own. You are absolutely right about the knife edge bearing. It can rattle because the contact area is much larger thus the pressure on any point of the bearing is lower, it is free to vibrate. The Kuzma 4 Points focus all their vertical mass on two needle points. The contact surface is much smaller than a knife edge thus the pressure at the points is much higher so they do not rattle. They are also locked in place horizontally. Since you told Holmz that his vertical bearing sucks I don't have to be the bad guy this time:-)))

Raul is right. At some point you just have to jump into the water. It is what we all do.

Whether or not you hear a difference depends on how bad your situation is now and how good your hearing is. None of us can determine this. 

Your line stage gain is not the issue. It is the signal to noise ratio of your phono stage. Your line stage will be more than happy to amplify all the nose. 

@rauliruegas ​​@holmz , The way tonearms are dampened is a complicated issue with many different approaches. Some have fluid damping like the 4 Points others use magnets like my CB and the Graham arms. Many arms do pretty much nothing other than to stop their arms from ringing with damping materials like foam.  How do you tell what works? There are not any good tests for this. I am not fond of having to depend on just listening but this is one situation where there is not anything else you can do. This is going to turn some heads but what I have been doing is comparing the analog performance against a digital file using music that was remastered at the same time in both formats. What I prefer cuts both ways but in general vinyl performance is very competitive in terms of dynamics, lack of sibilance and pitch stability. Noise is always higher with vinyl but that is expected. With a good record this does not seem to influence enjoyment. I can not help but think there is a psychological draw towards vinyl because of the tradition it represents. I have been flipping records since the age of 4 with extreme enjoyment. I have been an early adaptor all my life but I can not seem to get away from vinyl in spite of it's disadvantages and expense. You may be able to teach an old dog new tricks but, it is another problem getting him to stop the old ones. 

@holmz , I have a program called Pure Vinyl. I can digitize and catalog vinyl. I already have an ADC. My phono stage has been digitized for 20 some odd years now as my preamp is digital. Pure Vinyl also has digital RIAA correction but you have to have a phono stage with a flat or uncorrected out put. I have one on the way and plan to try it. There are people who think it is superior to analog correction. Yes, you can record multiple versions of any situation and compare but it does take a lot of time and work. I do compare digital to analog versions of various recordings by synchronizing the record to the digital then just switch back and forth by remote. This is pretty easy to do and a lot of fun. It also takes little time. You do have to purchase multiple versions of the same recording but I suspect most of us do that anyway.

Great that you got a CB. All the adjustment grub screws have nylon inserts so they do not leave marks. You only need a light touch when you tighten them. Don't over do it!  Be very careful with the lead out wires. They are tougher than you think but still, having to rewire the entire arm would suck. The axis of the horizontal bearing has to be 222 mm from the spindle. A 1" hole will work perfectly. It really should be done on a drill press. If you have any issues feel free to message me.

@rauliruegas, now don't get lazy on us. This is after all an analog thread. Besides you will get the wrath of god for playing CDs. We all know that people with real HiFi's can not tolerate CDs. They are bad for your hearing and Coca Cola has imbedded advertising in them to make you thirsty, or was that Anheuser Busch?

Seriously, it took a while for everyone to get their act together when CDs first came out. The initial mastering and players were with few exceptions hideous. To many ears their reputation was permanently damaged which is not entirely fair. There is the problem of dynamic compression (loudness wars) but, that is done primarily with popular music not so much with jazz and classical. My Slipknot days are long gone. Some music is only available on CDs which I will buy and upload them to my hard drive. The computer then up-samples them on playback. This works quite nicely.

The vast majority of music is now stored in digital because it's performance will not decline with time and it is an enormous space saver. It then becomes easy to keep library copies in two locations avoiding a situation like the Universal Music Fire in which we lost a huge amount of music permanently.