SOTA cosmos turntables

Rocky, I think youd be very happy with a star. The caveat being that if you buy one used it may need a trip back to Sota for a bearing repair and platter work if it has the older lip and some of the old ones have noisy pumps. Kirk can make it like new for you so factor that into your offer. Sota has a slow turnaround as they are a small family owned company but they will treat you well and it is well worth the wait.After owning many "highend" tables once I got my star I was a convert for life and have moved from the star to a nova and finally to a macassar cosmos IV all of which were refurbed by Sota. Honestly the star will give you most of what you get with the cosmos.
good luck and good listening

I talked with Donna at SOTA yesterday and she is developing some options for me. Now all I have to do is find the money!

Send in your table. By the time the table is ready you will have the money (and possibly Grandkids).

OK, being serious... Ask Donna how long it will REALISTICALLY take. I am guessing 2-3 months which will give you time to find the money.

Others hear have attested it will be a worthwhile upgrade, so if you have the patience, go for it.

Thanks. Am currently dealing with Donna and will ask for a realistic turn around time. But, on the bright side, I can collect a lot of empty soda cans in 2-3 months.

Question: Will the vacuum holddown eliminate the need for using my reflex clamp? And will moving to a vacuum holdown table make noticeable improvements in the sonics? Same question for moving to the upgraded motor. Will an improved motor improve the sonics?

Bottom line: I'm really looking for the wow factor and not interested in just swapping out compononents for the sake of functionality.

Rocky, you will still need to use your reflex clamp. The vacuum improvement will be more noticable on some records than others, on a flat 180gm disc there will be very little difference btwn the vac on or off but on some records the difference is bigger and this of course depends on the resolution of everything downstream. As far as the motor is concerned the more accurate the speed stability the better the sound period. I dont think any one component or change will generally yield a large "wow" factor, improvements are usually incremental and in high end audio the magnitude of improvement is generally over exaggerated when being discussed.
Rick