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SOTA STAR Sapphire Turntable Care and Feeding

I'm seriously interested in a used SOTA STAR Sapphire Series III Turntable with Vacuum, Electronic Flywheel and SME Series IV Tonearm, that is close to me and a very reasonable price.  It would be a big step up from my current Pro-Ject X2B, but I want to make sure it is not too technical for my dinosaur brain before I pull the trigger.  How difficult it is to get set up?  Once it is set up, do you need to constantly fuss over it or just the occasional check?  I have an upgraded Joliida JD-9 phono pre-amp.  Would this pre-amp be sufficient for the SOTA  or would I need to upgrade that to do justice to the SOTA?  Any other quirks of this turntable that I should be aware of?  Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

John Cotner

New Ulm, MN

jrcotner

Showing 1 response by drmuso

drmuso's avatar
drmuso
135 posts
 

I bought a new Star III about 1989.  The only thing I've done to it is add a different platter mat.  Haven't done any of the maintenance suggested above.  The motor is as described above--I have it about 8 ft. away from my listening position and its noise is inaudible from there while a record is playing.

I basically agree that it's pretty much a set-it-and-forget unit.  I live in earthquake country, so I check that it's still level after a big earthquake.

It's so nice having a turntable that flattens warped records.

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