Any Sota Sapphire experts out there?

@tomic601 I went with the Series V platter (includes damping), a replacement sapphire bearing (the original in mine was worn out), the subchassis mod and Series V suspension.  Worth every penny!  Mine was done by Kirk (RIP), and he said my Series III motor was in perfect shape; dead steady on speed and not a sound to be heard.  That was about 6 or 7 years ago now, and I remain totally satisfied.  SOTA is a great company to work with, too.  Good luck with your project & happy listening!

 @effischer  my sense and confirmation bias is that the Sapphire remains one of the best decks in history, certainly judged on value. appreciate your specific inputs and will roll those into my decision - thanks

enjoy the music !

jim

Do any of you know what the thread size is for the feet. I want to put tip toes/conical feet on mine and need to know what the thread is from the table. I’ve owned a few SOTA’s in the past and dint remember. Btw, an SME V And a Sota table are a marriage made in heaven. The SME is not to heavy for the table. I sold SOTA’s for 13 years and just about everyone of them had an SME arm on it. Other than the occasional Premier, FT3, MMT. 

tomic, If you can afford it, and if you want to afford it, I cannot recommend more strongly that you consider the Eclipse motor and motor controller system.  The electronics are a revival of the Phoenix Engineering Eagle and Roadrunner.  Together, these provide dead on speed control with feedback between the Eclipse tachometer and the power supply.  In addition, you would receive their new 3-phase AC synchronous motor, which is required for correct operation of the electronics.  I owned a Star Sapphire III for more than 10 years, and only after selling it and moving on did I realize that it had real shortcomings with respect to speed constancy.  (I always wondered why piano notes wandered in pitch during decay, and I had come to think that was normal for recorded piano.)  The Eclipse upgrade should be a revelation on an otherwise excellent turntable.  I would add that option to your list, along with the maglev bearing.  (I added an Eagle + Roadrunner to my Lenco drive system around the time Phoenix went under, and I am extremely pleased.)

Seantock, I got my first SOTA, the original Sapphire in 1981. I have never done anything to it except dust it once in a while. It needs absolutely no maintenance otherwise unless it develops a problem. I still have that turntable and it still runs just like it did almost 40 years ago. Enjoy!

Mike