Does Anyone Know the History of the Early Sota Turntables?

Had a Sapphire mk II bought new 1986 with a Sumiko MMT tone arm.  Had the 4 point suspension and standard wood arm board.  Sold it to my roommate in 1990 to partly fund purchase of a Star Sapphire mk III in 1990.  This latter table has an SME V arm with a multilayer Cosmos arm board.  Both tables were representative of the original company and were built in Oakland, California.

Both still in use today and function very well with minimal maintenance.

I have a Sapphire, Gen 1, that I purchased new, and (like the rest of my high-end system) haven't used since moving to New Jersey and getting married. I don't know what tone arm this is, and it has a Grado cartridge mounted on it. There is also a spindle clamp. And in a cabinet drawer, I have an equally old Koetsu Rosewood with the stylus missing. The SOTA shipping box (I remember, it was a robust piece of work) was destroyed in a nor'easter years ago.

After all these years, I don't dare turn any of this equipment on. Probably catch fire. I'm just saying, I appreciate this thread.

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. 

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.

@neonknight I’ve been wondering about that as well. The old sapphire thrust plate and zirconium balls perform SO well, I’m not sure I understand the move to magnetic. It’s also not hard to ship the former correctly.

I’ve had many year now on various Clearaudio Innovations, with their own version of magnetic thrust bearing, and they are VERY reactive to any stray subsonic energy (right in the woofer-flapping range). It can be a huge problem in some systems (and if you think that's bad, the magnetic bearing arms made it even worse). Not sure if SOTA has mitigated this somehow; the further interaction with springs could make it better or worse. I suppose it’s also possible to use magnetic thrust just to *reduce* the load on a traditional bearing, rather than providing 100% thrust / suspension.

Agreed that modern SOTA prices & services are quite dear. When I see a clean SOTA on the secondary markets, it always seems like a smokin’ deal to me. Recently picked up a mint Cosmos that the owner had recently serviced by SOTA (still in their sealed packing) and am grateful to have it. Wonderful table. It’s a series V that has the traditional bearing, but was upgraded to new Condor motor & PSU. I’m not even sure I’d want a SOTA with magnetic bearing, and now I hear their new / upcoming top table is not even suspended? I have to scratch my head at some of the new directions.

@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.