@lewm That is interesting, I don’t believe I ever heard that bit of info. I know there was a SOTA Gem turntable that predated the Sapphire model.

Removing a platter on the earlier SOTA is not a straightforward task. You have to unbolt the bearing assembly from the bottom and lift the platter and well out as one unit. Then if you want to get to the thrust plate you have to unbolt the clamshell that holds them together. Taking one apart is not much fun.

I have taken a stethoscope to the table and listened to the motor and main bearing. Both are dead quiet, I cannot even hear any residual noise at all. It is really quite impressive. 

I am curious to know if the first generation platter is all aluminum or if it was a composite. If all aluminum I think there was a Supermat that was used to damp it. I find it odd that a google search brings up next to nothing on the early generation tables.

I don’t use these AI programs very often but I decided to try ChatGPT and Co-Pilot and see what I could find. They found references I did not in my searches. Co-Pilot says 1" thick 6061 aluminum plate laminated with Baltic Birch ply. Other AI and search engines say its made of aluminum with no reference to Baltic birch. I wonder if they are mixing up the sub chassis in this answer.

For motor Co-Pilot says

The SOTA Sapphire Gen 1 turntable uses a Papst motor.The motor typically requires an unregulated power supply with an output of 28 to 36VDC, 0.15A or greater. Chat GPT was less useful.

The first generation of the SOTA Sapphire turntable typically used a high-torque, low-speed AC motor.

The condition of this table is excellent. The suspension is level, does not have any sag and meets the specs for Sota set up parameters. The finish on the top plate is a perfect matte black, and the frame looks like it might have a polyurethane finish, which makes me think someone has done some level of restoration on this table.

Since the platter is aluminum, I am using a rubber and cork mat on it, with a Sota I-Clamp. I also put on a Cosmos acrylic arm board I have in place of the original MDF one. The arm and arm board allows the table to balance with only a minimal amount of shot needed in the arm board cup. The suspension needs 2.2 pounds at the tonearm spot to balance, so I doubt many arms from back in the day were out of spec for what a SOTA could accommodate.

I have a Cosmos Eclipse with vaccum here, so I know how a Sota should set up. This table is meant for casual use, and for a low mass version of the Audiomods Series Six arm so I can use my Ortofon MC2000 on it. I have one that is OEM minus a new diamond, and one with a boron cantilever that is my casual use cartridge. I paid a modest amount for this table, and I do not expect it to keep up with the Cosmos or my Scheu, but I will say its very respectable in most ways, and an enjoyable table to listen to.

I wonder if many of the faults/limitations about sound referenced in this thread come down to other aspects of analog. Whether it be tonearms, cartridges, phono stages, or perhaps even the arm board materials. As the first one was MDF, and then they made a thin aluminum one before moving onto acrylic/aluminum. Because I think this table sounds pretty respectable as it sits, and I can spend the night listening to it.

@mijostyn It appears that Luxman introduced vacuum clamping on the PD300 in the late 1970’s. Sota released the Star Sapphire in 1984. Apparently, there is also a SOTA GEM which was a precursor to the Sapphire and the first table released by SOTA.

The arm for a SOTA needs to be under 2.2 pounds and fit the landscape of the arm board which precludes these VTA tower type arms such as Wheaton or Reed. Unless you cut and modify the top of the plinth. These suspended tables will never be multi arm ones, I don't know of a suspended table that is easily fitted that way. 

On My SOTA Cosmos Eclipse I put an Origin Live Agile, and Christan built a custom arm board for it that looks like a breastplate underneath in order to make the weight requirements and still be non-resonant.

@lewm I have never heard of a Sapphire being offered as a kit. Nor could I think that motor could spin a 1 inch aluminum platter fast enough to give the impression its coming off the turntable. That sounds like a runaway direct drive motor. But perhaps it was the GEM, as there is so little information out there about it.

As far as this Gen 1 SOTA Sapphire, it certainly is playing well. It makes a great casual table for me. I had a Gen III Star Sapphire a few years back that I got as a proof of concept before I bought my Cosmos, and I used an Audiomods Series Six arm on it with great success also. To be honest, I liked the Audiomods over a SME V that I eventually put on that table and my Cosmos. I am quite tickled with the improvement in sound quality I get with the OL Agile arm over the SME V I had initially mounted.

Now its time to shop for an appropriate platter mat. I have a rubber and cork composite one that does a respectable job. I wish i could find one that is a bit more tacky, something like a modern equivalent of the Platter Matter or even the original Audioquest Sorbothane mats. That would quiet down that aluminum platter nicely.

@lewm I bet that was amazing to see! Guess the pitch controls were not going to have enough range to dial that down!

@mijostyn Some sites show 1980 some 1981

General

• Manufacturer: Luxman
• Model: PD-300
• Type: Turntable without tonearm, with built-in manual vacuum platter suction
• Years of manufacture: 1981 - 1985
• Made in: Japan
• Color: Silver, Wood
• Remote control: -
• Power consumption: 15 W
• Dimensions (WxHxD): 490 x 200 x 390 mm
• Weight: 18 kg
• New price approx: 163,000 yen (Japan, 1981), about 2,500 DM without tonearm and without system, with Elac ESG-796 H 30 (according to Stereoplay 11/81 + 1/83 top class group 1) 3,150 DM market price.

Vinyl Engine says

Luxman PD 300

Belt Drive Turntable (1982-1984)

An AI search engine gives this answer

You’re right; there seems to be some confusion around the release date of the Luxman PD-300. While many sources cite 1975, others indicate it was introduced in 1980. It’s not uncommon for vintage audio equipment to have discrepancies in dating. If you have a specific source in mind, I’d be happy to help clarify further!

So far even the latest search date slightly predates the SOTA Star Sapphire which is 1984.

Steven W. Watkinson, Various | Sep 5, 2008 | First Published: Feb 5, 1984 The SOTA Sapphire was the first, and the most successful in terms of sales, of the new generation of high-end American turntables.

AI Search engine shows

You

release date of sota star sapphire

Copilot

The SOTA Star Sapphire turntable was introduced in 19841. It was an advancement over the original Sapphire model, featuring vacuum clamping to further reduce vibrations and improve sound quality.

@lewm Ah yes! That was an observation that others had about the early tables. I do remember one reviewer mentioning this also, and he found the best setting for him was 1/3 of the dial on vacuum pressure. 

The new tables do not allow you to adjust pressure, there is a factory algorithm followed. There is an initial pressure applied to clamp the record and seal it, and then it is reduced to a maintenance level. On my Cosmos you have to remove the air hose to get the table to play without vacuum and I did that early on. I never noticed a degradation due to the clamping of the record, if anything I achieved improved resolution and fine detail in playback. I am satisfied with how the system works. 

@atmasphere  Do you remember what they used on the Gen 1 table then? A rubber mat? This one came with a felt one but I fitted it with a rubber and cork one I had available. 

@dover I got some paperwork with the SOTA and one of the documents was a SOTA newsletter that laid out the upgrade path. It was postmarked Nov 27,1989. One section discussed the SOTA upgrade path to current generation tables. The Gen 1 model was from July 1, 1981 to 1986 and up to serial number 15167 for the Sapphire. My table is 15013. While this table looks like it has been lovingly cared for, I would guess it has never been back for upgrades since it still has the aluminum platter. 

I doubt many of the mats have survived for this table, and if they did I imagine they are compromised. I will search for an appropriate replacement, and for now the cork and rubber one will work fine. 

One interesting tidbit in this letter is the mention of the Panorama speakers SOTA released. There is an ad out there for a pair of the speakers on the other side of my state, and they have been listed for quite a while. If I were a collector the speaker would be worth seeking out...but I do not have room for them. Still they are tempting!

We just got back from Puerta Vallarta for an enjoyable trip for el Día de Muertos and this is my first weekend getting to sit back and listen to some music in the morning. The weekend is when I spin most of my vinyl, and for the past few weeks I have been using this early SOTA a fair amount. I am pretty impressed on how good it is even after all these years. Further up in this thread @petaluman posted a review of that early SOTA table and its speed tests were pretty darn good. 

Now I have never been a big vintage-head audio guy, even though I have used what is now considered vintage electronics in the past, like a Rowland Model 5 amplifier, a N.E.W. amplifier, a Superphon pre-amplifier, and a couple of other things. Heck I owned my last DAC for 15 years, from new to vintage. But I would have to say that there is real value in vintage tables. I have had a Thorens TD124, Garrard 401, Technics SP 10 II, and Denon DP75. I would say in the world of analog there is a lot of value in vintage. 

I always knew SOTA refurbished their tables, but their services were not cheap. However, someone in our local music group bought a refurbished Sapphire from SOTA and it is a very nice table. Given what turntables cost new today, the price does not seem terribly unreasonable. Now the used tables out on the second hand market seem to be a bit undervalued in my opinion, although the prices are rising. I do see on their website they have restored Sapphires for about $3K with Series 6 motor and electronics and the magnetic platter.  The magnetic platter is cool and eliminates most of the shipping problems, but I have to admit the practical performance of the sapphire bearing is pretty darn remarkable. It sure was a sensible solution for its time period, and still viable today. If I was buying a turntable I would think long and hard about either buying a used SOTA and having it restored or getting a refurbished one from them. Apparently Christan at SOTA is producing some videos to document the process of doing spring restorations in the field. 

Anyways, this has been a fun table and I am sure a lot of people would enjoy it. I wish it had the full wood top and the acrylic platter. But for a casual table its really all I need. It sounds pretty darn good, even though there are "upgrades" that came down the road. 

@mulveling I have a Cosmos Eclipse and the magnetic bearing works well. No issues with suspension interaction or anything else. Now is it a sonic improvement over the sapphire bearing? That I do not know. But given what I see turntables selling for, a completely updated Sapphire for $3K seems like a lot of table.

@atmasphere Any chance you can provide any details about their build or sound? 

@atmasphere There was a bass extender module for them, which this pair has. Makes them look like Wilsons or those LS3/5A with their bass modules. Has a 7" Focal woofer in each cabinet as I recall. 

Sorry I do not see a magnetic bearing storing energy and act as a suspension. Have you ever tried holding two strong magnets and then compressing them together? Takes a lot of force to do this. Now this bearing rides on a fairly complaint suspension tuned to 3 Hz. Any force that tries to compress the bearing is just going to move the suspension. The platter weighs 9 pounds, so its going to take a lot of energy to make it change position relative to its stationary position created by the two magnets. I don't know about you, but I don't beat my turntable hard enough to do that while playing. And the suspension isolates it from outside forces.