Sota Sapphire

Manitunc, mine does. Any tt with good speed control has plenty of torque to accelerate the platter from 0 to 33 1/3 in a revolution or less.

Hi Manitunc, since the platter is starting from 0 and assuming linear acceleration and that the platter reaches 33 1/3 rpm at exactly one revolution, then the average speed of that first rotation is 16 2/3 rpm. After the first rotation the average speed will be 33 1/3 rpm. I'm sure your most excellent Cosmos does better than 3.6 seconds if the belt is in good condition.

Your Sota should be up to speed in less than one revolution. Replace the belt first and clean the pulley and platter. Beyond that it could be a motor or power supply problem. There's a 220 microFarad capacitor on the circuit board that starts the motor. It's easy to replace if you are handy with a soldering iron.

I used the supplied strobe disc with my Sota to measure the time it took for the bars on the disc to stabilize. If the platter gets up to speed in exactly one rotation from zero then it would take 3.6 seconds for the bars on the disc to stabilize after turning on the motor. Use the strobe disc to measure yours.
We had these discussions on another thread. Search speed control and torque. If I recall correctly, someone's DD tt gets up to speed in a quarter rotation.