2. analog
  3. 191620-3976

Does Anyone Know the History of the Early Sota Turntables?

Does anyone know the differences between the Gen 1 and Gen 2 and 3 of the Sota Saphire tables? I found a very clean Gen 1 table I am going to use as a casual player. I have some extra arm boards and an extra arm I can put on it. Motor and bearing is in excellent shape. The platter feels like alumium, and I do not know if in these first tables they went to the lead or acrylic composite platters. The way the spindle looks I doubt this is the inverted bearing either. Anyone know the history of these early Sota tables?

neonknight
lewm
13,113 posts
 

A well conceived magnetic bearing should have no "bounce" in response to external energy like footfalls, etc.  If it did, you could have the above problems, especially on a TT with a spring suspension.

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,841 posts
 

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!

@neonknight When SOTA was marketing that speaker was during the early-mid 90s, during the short period when Allen Perkins was with them. We showed with them at CES; I think that was about 1991. Allen had moved from Minnesota to California to work with Sumiko (SOTA); he had been previously employed at House of High Fidelity here in St. Paul, who was a SOTA dealer. IIRC Allen had a lot to do with the design of that speaker. 

neonknight OP
392 posts
 

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

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,841 posts
 

@neonknight That was a long time ago! It was not a large speaker though and IIRC was a 2-way.

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,915 posts
 

A well conceived magnetic bearing should have no "bounce" in response to external energy like footfalls, etc. If it did, you could have the above problems, especially on a TT with a spring suspension.

@lewm Do you happen to know how this is achieved (a well-conceived one, that is)? I’d be real curious to learn. The benefit of a vertical-thrust magnetic suspension is the reduction in friction. The downside being you now have a suspension that can trap energy when excited. And most mechanisms to damp that energy would create far more friction than was saved in the first place.

Clearaudio’s implementation has the downside that they pile LOTS of platter mass on top, and then the magnetic thrust is only "just enough" to oppose this, plus a few pounds for clamping. So when the platter gets disturbed, there’s quite a bit of displacement and visible low-frequency oscillation (and in your woofers if you’re unlucky enough).

 

More to discover