Turntable Decision

+4 on the SOTA Sapphire (of course I have one, used).

@mijostyn

The Jelco 850 is a great arm for the money but the company is out of business.

Yep, unfortunately. They were out of business when I bought mine just last year too. Did not deter me. I was lucky to get mine when I did. When I’ve seen them (rarely) for sale now, many are nearer to $2,000. I found mine to be pretty easy to set up, and just so happened to fit my SOTA premium arm board that was predrilled by the previous owner.

Again, I’m very pleased with my 850 MKII, and snagged a Jelco VTA adjustable base a couple months ago while I still could. A bit quirky, but it works, and makes VTA adjustments easier than manually unscrewing the stock set screw and hoping for the best in a ‘trial and error’ method.

@gareents

I know @mijostyn does not like removable headshell’s, but I prefer them as I can swap out easily for my mono cart when need be. I bought a Jelco 850 MKII from a recommendation by @noromance here on agon for my Sapphire. The 850 and 950 Jelco’s are much different than the earlier 750/550’s, etc. as they have a balanced ‘knife edge’ bearing. I like mine, and it was about $1,400 new. But, good luck finding an 850 or 950 now. Personally, I would search out a 850/950 before considering a 550/750/etc. arm.

Alternatively, in that price range, there are now better and more available arms, like the Origin Live series, or the others @mijostyn mentioned.