+1 on the SOTA
I wanted a new turntable. I was originally looking at their Moonbeam and Comet (leaning towards the Comet). I did ask what they had in refurbished turntables.
I ended up getting a Sapphire with an Origin Live Silver tonearm and an Ortifon 2m red. I got to order it from Donna (the owner). She knows her stuff. When she found out where I lived she told me I could pick it up on Sunday. I live an hour away from the factory. It was a nice Sunday drive.
I got it home and set it up. When I played my first record. I knew I got it right. I had done a lot of research before my purchase and this is the first turntable I have ever bought. All my others were free cast offs and hand me downs. It replaced a late 70's Panasonic.
A month later I upgraded to a Soundsmith the Voice cartridge. The 2m Red is now installed on my parents' Sansui turntable. I had already decided not to go down the MC cartridge rabbit hole. This is a phenomenal setup. Could I do better? The short answer is yes. I feel that I am at my own point of diminishing returns. I could buy a better tonearm and cartridge, but I would probably spend more on that than I did on the whole setup. It is nice to know that I have room to grow.
In all I am very happy with my SOTA. Their customer service is excellent. I got to meet the owner. I can always trade up or have my table upgraded. I don't have the vacuum platter. I like to keep things simple. If you feel you need to spend all of your $13k get Nova or Cosmos. Their Millennia Eclipse with the vacuum platter, Enterprise tonearm and Dynavector XV-1s is $12,860. They do stock the Origin Live Enterprise. They can get Soundsmith.
If you don't spend all of the $13k on the table you would have some money to spend on other vinyl related stuff. Like a better phono preamp, step up transformer and MC cartridge, or a record cleaner. Even better yet... more records!
