Having A Tough Time Justifying More Than One Table

@rauliruegas 

What I probably should do is purchase another arm and have a board cut by SOTA for it. They will ensure the weight is correct for the suspension and therefore I can just bolt it in and do not have to worry about leveling it. That is the beauty of the hung suspension on a SOTA. I could swap arms/cartridges in just a few minutes and be ready to play music. Suspended tables dont accept multiple arms easily, but this is the best solution given its architecture. I don't want to go down the road of arm discussions as what happened in another thread, but I do value quality arms and what they bring to the table....snort. But this an option I have been kicking around. 

I have thought about the Mutech Hiyabusa, which happens to have a shared history with Transfiguration. But its just a thought. 

@millercarbon

Can’t help yourself can you? Have to behave like an ass even when it’s not called for. Like to crap in other people’s threads eh?

@ mijostyn

The SOTA is understated in its looks, and it does look like the more basic tables such as the Nova or Sapphire, but its an interesting table none the less. The aluminum sub chassis is well done, and when you compare it to other high end subchassis on other suspended tables, it compares quite well. The magnetic bearing assembly is as good as anything out there, and the new platter composition also sounds well balanced tonally compared to previous versions. The motor assembly is not as complex as the multi pulley arrangements, but with the Phoenix Engineering speed control I think it does the job correctly, and is not an over priced over engineered solution. The composite arm boards are pretty darn fine also.

All in all it seems like a well executed design. Perhaps the SME V limits the overall overall performance of the table, and there is something to be gained there. It's just a thought.

@isochronism 

I have considered this too, and have gone back and forth. 

Now the Well Tempered Reference is an odd duck of a table, and sounds very nice but is of limited appeal to the current vinyl market. I watched one languish on Audiogon for months with an asking price of $3K for arm and table from an original owner. Zero interest, and perhaps that is due to its 90's era cosmetics. 

However, that arm is excellent if you are able to pair it with medium or higher compliance cartridges. It originally came with an Ikeda 9 on it, and that combo was problematic at best. I recently installed my ZYX 4D onto it and it sounds very nice and tracks extremely well. It could be that second table if I want, as I suspect the arm is as good or better than the one on my Brinkmann Bardo, which would be a far easier table to sell. 

However, the Well Tempered would never accept another arm, and the Brinkmann would. So at that point I would be locked into two tables that I would not want to pull cartridges off and on with any regularity. As I think about it, I wonder how many times I would want to exchange arm boards on the SOTA, and how good is it for its overall health. Perhaps every few years as I would remove cartridges for maintenance. 

Right now this is a thinking through the process and what my alternatives are. I sure clean my system up if I can get down to two tables, as my Esoteric phono stage accepts two inputs, so I could remove the Graham Slee Accession and Elevator combo that supports the third table. 

As I sit right now I think moving the Brinkmann on makes the most sense, but its such a darn nice direct drive table. Although when push comes to shove, the SOTA is better in every respect, so it becomes expendable. 

So my solution was to leave the Brinkmann go. I still have the Audiomods Series 6 arm here, and that can go on the SOTA as I have another arm board that fits that arm. So if I choose to audition another cartridge then I can do it on that arm, just remove the SME V and Proteus and not have to worry about uninstalling it or setting it back up at another time. 

The Well Tempered stays as it is a great platform for the ZYX 4D cartridge, and it was my least expensive table. I find I enjoy it for casual listening, so in a way it gets the most play time. When the ZYX diamond is too worn, it will go to Expert Stylus to get fitted with a new diamond This can be done with the stock cantilever, so with a tune up by an experienced technician I believe I will get a cartridge back that is as close to stock as possible. While the Paratrace diamond may be different in some respects to a microridge cut, i think the differences in mass will be negligible and the stock cantilever assembly being preserved will be of more importance than variations in diamond cut. 

The Esoteric E-03 accepts two inputs, so both tables are wired to it I can remove the Graham Slee, and the Accession and Elevator will be going to a friend of mines to be used in his system. So I free up some capital, gain a bit of real estate in my cabinet, and simplify the system. I have two decent tables that are enjoyable to listen to, and brings the system configuration into an arrangement that meets my needs.