Chak, I once bought a SOTA Star Sapphire as salvage. It had been separated from the vacuum pump/power supply very early in life and looked like it came out of a time capsule. I didn’t think that I could get it going, but bought it for the original Well Tempered Arm that was on it, again, clearly low use.
Bought the thing locally and when I got it out to the car, as it was one of those Craigslist races where the first one there and out gets the golden ring, I realized that it had a Kiseki Purple Heart Sapphire in the arm. Barely used. I imagine that it is worth more than the rest of the rig combined, several times over.
The cartridge gods were smiling on me that day! And yes, I still have the table, arm and cartridge although the table is no longer the vacuum model, just a plain Sapphire, and I’m holding back the Kiseki for a better day, but use the Klipsch/Hibino on that table from time to time.
Bought the thing locally and when I got it out to the car, as it was one of those Craigslist races where the first one there and out gets the golden ring, I realized that it had a Kiseki Purple Heart Sapphire in the arm. Barely used. I imagine that it is worth more than the rest of the rig combined, several times over.
The cartridge gods were smiling on me that day! And yes, I still have the table, arm and cartridge although the table is no longer the vacuum model, just a plain Sapphire, and I’m holding back the Kiseki for a better day, but use the Klipsch/Hibino on that table from time to time.
