SOTA STAR Sapphire Turntable Care and Feeding

I still own my first table - a SOTA Star III in gorgeous Koa wood. Bought on consignment from original owner, circa 2007.

The platter of that era used a short, stiff rubber platter lip to create the vacuum seal. It’s not nearly as effective as the current version lips. My original platter never made a proper seal, even though the vacuum unit & hose worked fine. I had to cut it off, because records wouldn’t lay flat. So check to see if it’s actually sealing. Sending to SOTA just for new vacuum platter might not be a bad idea.

My III’s original bearing and spring suspension still worked great. I later (circa 2018) had the whole table rebuilt by SOTA into a Nova V (keeping just the Koa chassis), at significant expense. The new platter sealed properly and was a great improvement - but the new bearing, suspension, and sub chassis didn’t effect any meaning improvement IMO. In fact, the new suspension was a pain in the ass to adjust and re-adjust for a while. In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done the V rebuild - just the new platter. Maybe to a VI or VII. The newer Series VI and VII use much better materials quality than V, and could be worth it - but at even greater expense.

For the money, just a vacuum platter replacement on your III might be the most effective move.

And yes to a new belt!

As for the Jolida JD9 - I don't trust a cheap phono stage with such wild specifications. What is up with that gain!!

Since I missed my chance for a local SOTA Star Sapphire turntable, I’m obsessing about getting one. And spousal approval has not been withdrawn yet so I need to act expeditiously. I’ve noticed some are vacuum and others non-vacuum. How much improvement is the vacuum over the non-vacuum turntable? Is the vacuum unit more of a hassle than it’s worth?

Star (sometimes called "Star Sapphire") is the older vacuum model. Most or all of them should have vacuum, but their original patters have the older style (short, stiff) rubber lips which I DOUBT will make a good enough vacuum seal today. I really think you’d either want a new platter installed by SOTA, or cut the old lip off and use without vacuum clamping. If you do the latter, the Star model still has the big advantage of a 4-point suspension versus old plain Sapphire models (3-point). Also the old Stars usually have a more premium full-wood chassis with some really gorgeous exotic woods (my favorites: Koa, Macassar Ebony, Rosewood). I don’t understand why anyone ever ordered these tables in hideous yellow oak or boring black ash.

Nova is the newer Star. Some of these had the option to forgo vacuum. But the ones that do, should have the newer style platter (good). If you find a good deal on this, go for it.

Even without vacuum, the Star (or Nova) is a fantastic table. I enjoyed the hell out of my Star III, with vacuum bypassed, until I had it rebuilt to Nova V a few years ago. In hindsight, for the money spent, I would’ve just kept it as a III - or maybe just have SOTA install a new vacuum platter. You can do more a-la-cart upgrades, or even a full rebuild (keeping just the chassis), but this will run up the costs VERY quickly.

Think about it:  do you really expect the amount of vacuum created by the pump will take out even small warps inherent in a disc?  A hold down clamp is much more effective in that regard, imo, although even with that the amount of pressure would dissipate the further you get away from the spindle.

Yes, this is basically my experience as well. Significant edge warps on 180g vinyl are harder for the vacuum to "suck down" versus a heavy ring clamp (VPI and Clearaudio's both work very well here). However, for most records, the vacuum does a nice job sucking down small air pockets (over the middle of a record) that can remain even with ring clamping.

I got on the phone with SOTA to talk about refurbished turntables.  Had a few nice conversations with Christan and we talked about my stereo upgrade plan, the room and my listening habits and tastes.  Turns out they have one rosewood Sapphire III ready to get refurbished.  We talked about my budget and Christan gave me some options, so I pulled the trigger.  It's going to get Series IV electronics, Rega 330 tonearm and a Hana cartridge, which will keep it in my budget.  It should be ready in January.  I enjoyed working with Christan and am excited to get a SOTA turntable after 30+ years of pining for one.

Good deal! Awesome that you get a 3 chassis with that exotic wood - they used some really beautiful woods back then. On the flip side - SOTA's tech, engineering, and materials quality for inside the chassis took a HUGE leap forward when Christan came onboard a few years back. They were somewhat stagnant for a long time before that. You're in good hands!