Turntable upgrade - worth the effort?


I currently have an NAD 533 with a Shure M97xE cartridge and am looking to upgrade. A friend has offered to let me borrow long term (and possibly keep) an older SOTA Saphire. It has a Souther linear tracking arm (I believe an SLA-3, which he claims had some tracking problems)and a Sumiko Blue Point Special. When I went to borrow it, I noticed that the turntable has been unused for many years and the needle was gone from the cartridge. I assume that I need to replace the entire cartridge (not just the needle) - and the turntable may need to be serviced since it has been unused for many years. He also has an RB 300 arm that is unattached (presumably used before the Souther).

Since I am not particularly adept mechanically, if I borrow this turntable, will I be asking for all kinds of headaches - both with regard to set up and financial (new cartridge). I really just want to upgrade my analog with as little headache as possible.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Related Equipment
Preamp - BAT 3ki
Amp - Hafler DH 220
Speakers - Spendor FL9
crg

Showing 1 response by sean

Talk about a "freak thing". I logged into "my threads" today and this thread was there. As you can see, i had not posted to the thread prior to this, so i guess that it was calling me : )

As far as dealing with Sota directly, Donna and Kirk are very nice to work with. Donna basically handles all of the business end of things while Kirk does the labor, etc... Given the retail price of these tables and what is involved in doing a complete inspection via dis-assembly ( $65, which is fully credited should you choose to have them do work on the table ), their prices are pretty reasonable. Any of you that have ever tried taking one of these apart will understand where i'm coming from.

The biggest pain with this or any other TT is proper packing, etc... Out of all of the audio gear that gets shipped, TT's receive the most damage. This is especially true of high end models that use fancy suspensions and people forget to secure the bearings. Sota's have very specific packing instructions and custom made cartons with wooden support structures, so contact Donna if you need help in this area. Their shipping containers run about $60 - $65 apiece if i remember correctly.

Should you choose to go things on your own, Kirk is a VERY nice guy and will do whatever he can to help you along in terms of "hints" with setting things up.

As far as the Souther goes, put that old piece of junk in a box and then drop me an email. Rather than clutter the landfills with more garbage, i'll cover the costs of shipping and store it here in my "audio museum" at no charge to you : ) Sean
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