Sota Sapphire VI Turntables with Origin Live tonearm

@pindac, I hate to seem like the cretin I am but I never knew a tonearm could "create a performance that was engaging," Silly me, and I thought it was the musicians that did that. Go figure.

As far as distortion from the original waveform goes, any of which I shall define as sonically unfavorable, you have to consider the cartridge and tonearm as one device. This also assumes it is attached in rigid orientation to the platter and is isolated from any extraneous vibration.

There are deviations from the original waveform that some people find pleasurable. I do not but, that is just me. A turntable, tonearm and cartridge should add absolutely nothing to the sound, that waveform. Anything they add is distortion pleasurable or not. That fact that the best tables can get reasonably close is amazing in and of itself and surely if you had to live with distortion it might as well sound good but, I would never say they, "create a performance that is engaging."

It was Kurt Vonnegut who remarked in, I believe it was Galapagos, that "the problem with humans is their brains are too big."  

Here is an example of customer service. I was having difficulty getting cartridge mounting plates for my Schroder CB tonearm. One dealer wanted $125 for each plate and two others could not find a source. Finally I emailed a Schroder dealer in Europe. The very next day I get an email from Frank Schroder apologizing for the problem. The US market is handled by Thrax who has been lax at supplying spares. Frank was ... not happy. He sent me four plates for $200. 

@dodgealum , I am just parroting what I have heard from several different sources, at least 4 that I can remember. Where there is smoke.

@tonywinga , is your Condor/Roadrunner in a single chassis? With three buttons?

If so are you having any trouble with the turntable switching speeds when you turn it on?

@lnitm , Origin Live makes a decent tonearm but their reputation for customer service is pretty bad. There are many other fine tonearms that will fit on the Sapphire including the Audiomods Series 6, the Kuzma 4 Point 9, the Rega RB 3000 and the Schroder CB. You can not go wrong with a used SME IV or V.  If you supply the arm Sota will mount it for you. Don't forget to add a dustcover and a reflex clamp.

I had a Sapphire for 40 years and just sold it recently to a young audiophile. I have a Cosmos Vacuum now. The Sapphire will have slightly more resonance in its sub chassis so under certain circumstances it might not be quite as detailed. Without vacuum clamping pitch might not be quite as stable but if you use a reflex clamp it will be close. A good turntable should make no sound of it's own and it should block any vibration/sound in the environment from getting to the cartridge. There is no turntable anywhere near it's low price that does a better job than the Sapphire. Any of the arms mentioned above will do a fine job with any cartridge of medium compliance and can be made to work with low compliance cartridges by adding head shell weights. What the overall sound will be like depends on factors none of us can evaluate, the performance of your phono stage, amplifier, speakers and room.  Every system/room is different. You are the one who has to make it sound the way you want. It is the price you pay for being an audiophile. Rock On!