sota suspension setup help

Hey Auaarons, I have a question. On my wall mounted stand(MDF board) I have a slight slant to the rear. The table is a series II and I don't like the idea of my VTA varying because of the older springs. Did you encounter this? What is your opinion? Currently I have the rear point on some MDF to make the table level, with the points tightened to the base(w/ no movement). At this juncture it still beats my P3 I had, but am I missing something? I also didn't need to add the lead to level the armboard, but I beleive it's suppose to balance the weight of the arm, how do figure out how much to use?

thanks so much...getting there. i have also noticed tightning the springs helps out. that et arm is very heavy.

thank you,

mike

First, level the stand / rack as much as possible to give the 3 feet that support the main chassis the least adjustment necessary. Have a really good bubble level with markings to make this easier.

Second, level the main chassis. Stand facing the front of the Sota, level it left and right first and then tweak the front to rear level. Changing these altogether is too difficult. Make sure the rubber feet stays clear of the normal "floating" range of the subchassis so that the subchassis does not hit any of the legs when floating.

Third, with the arm and cable installed, level the subchassis by changing the amount of lead shots in the tray under the tonearm board. You may need to have something suspend / support the tonearm cable because the cable could hinder the floating action of the subchassis if it hits the surface of the rack under the Sota or if it acted as a weight against the subchassis.

Hope this helps. Nothing extraordinary discussed above but worked for me through the 18 years I owned my Sota Star Sapphire and a few tonearm changes. If all failed, consider shipping the table back to SOTA to re-adjust the suspension.

Aaron