Not to spray the decks down in a pissing contest, but in a constructive way..... What is it you found "better" out of the SOTA (lets keep equal $$$ or close though)than the Planar 3?
I must admit, the comparison I did was seven years ago, but such is the vintage of the table I am suggesting.
My friends SOTA, while being more than three times the cost, with a clamp...etc (who wants to deal with that thing??) was not in the same arena. With four different carts, we played and tweaked. Weeks of toying and tweaking.
The SOTA was a bit better in certain bass areas with one of the carts (SME and Grace arms at different times) we used one of his AT's Two different Grados (XTZ and the cheapie) and a Monster Cable.
The Rega blew it away on any kind of "island music." Drums came alive, you were in the groove. I found it hard to believe myself. When you looked at the two, there was certainly no reason to think the Rega would sound so good. But it did. All that suspension garbage to deal with, combined with the clamp thing......forget it.
Blind tests all but one of the carts (the AT) picked the Rega everytime.
The same person who bought the SOTA (I think for arm and table he had 3k in it at that time) now uses a planar 3 with a Dynavector. Go figure.
Now, I am admitting that my info is several years old, but what honestly do you think the SOTA of near cost does better than a Rega table? How can you justify all the fiddling with that suspension, when the Rega is SO easy!
I guess what I am trying to say is that buying a used table is risky. Shipping, stupid previous owners....suspension issues that naturally come from age. They are all things to take into consideration when buying a used table.
I dont think anyone would argue that an LP-12 is one of the top 5 tables under 10K of all time. But, if you had to ship one to Mexico from Boston, would it be the right choice?
I think not. I would send the Planar 3.
Combined with the 300 arm, a used Planar 3 is kind of like a low miles Volvo 240 or a Toyota Camry....you know it is going to be reliable, simple and easy to setup.
Of course, I could be talking out my butt. Maybe SOTA has come up with a new table that requires nothing but a level to set up and no clamp to deal with and slipping belts every three months. Maybe they have fixed those issues.
If so, please educate me.
If not, I think if I was to buy a table/cart with a 1k budget, I would go for the sure thing with the fewest sources for trouble.
