I owned a Star Sapphire III as my only TT for 10 years or so. I found the vacuum clamping to be generally effective for edge warps. What bugged me is whether I could hear an effect on SQ that I found to be not so copacetic, although very subtle. But you know how "we" audiophiles are about stuff like that. I own a peripheral ring clamp but would never dare to use it for fear of damaging the cartridge. I do use a record weight or clamp on the spindle, but I cannot kid myself that it does much to eliminate warps. Anyway, it's amazing how much of a warp can be "played" without an obvious audible problem, is my experience since selling the SS III.
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