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Sota Sapphire arm help?

Hello everybody. So I ended up purchasing a Sota Sapphire on eBay. Came with a Sumiko Premier MMT tonearm. Well, as is turns out, the arm is no good. Rather than send the whole thing back, the seller has agreed to replace the tonearm. The Premiers are pretty tough to come by, so my question is this: How do you match a tonearm to a table that has an armboard for a specific arm? This turntable came with a premade armboard for the Premier, but I'm wondering if I can find a different arm (Rega RB250 or 300 perhaps?) that'd just be an easy swap without having to have a new armboard made. Any help is greatly appreciated. My first "real" turntable shows up & can't even use it yet. Bummer.

Thanks again & happy holidays to all on Audiogon!
geoffj85
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,703 posts
 
What cartridge are you using? I had that arm years ago and it would resonate so bad I blew my speakers twice. That arm is not a ball of fire. Go for a Rega.
frogman
7,457 posts
 
This should not be a problem.. The spindle to pivot distance is the same for both arms. However, the cutout hole needs to be slightly bigger for the Rega; so, you would have to widen the hole to fit the Rega which uses a collet instead of screws. Good luck.
geoffj85 OP
14 posts
 
Thanks for the responses everyone! I might just have the seller order me a Rega & have Sota make a new board. Seems to be the best option. This is also one of their upgraded boards, I don't really have the tools to make a wider hole. Thanks again for everyone's help!
kkurtis
43 posts
 
For what its worth...
The Sota can handle all the arm you can afford. The Rega type arms including several companies that make some truly great arms, are an easy solution. With Origen Live, the solution to the arm hole problem in an MMT board was a supplied dole rod and sand paper. Donna at the Sota shop will give you any advise you need. Replacing the better arm board is "pricey" and I would recommend investind that money in a tone arm upgrade if you can work out a deal with the original seller. The Sota shop also does a rather reasonable upgrade to the Sota table to version 5 status that is well worth the money. With the upgrade and a $3000 OL tonearm and Ortopon Jubilee I have more tt than I had ever thought possible for the money. The folks at Sota are great to work with.
geoffj85 OP
14 posts
 
After doing a little research I saw the Rega hole size is just slightly larger than the MMT, only like 1/4" or so. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle hopefully. Ill have to give Sota a call & find out on some upgrades. I had emailed about it & Donna had said that in her opinion, your money is better spent just trading in for a newer table. Well have to see though, I'm already way over my initial budget lol.

The seller is going to refund the money to pick up a Rega 250 though so we'll see how that works out. Thanks again everyone!
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