SOTA cosmos turntables

With Sota's in general the big difference is the vacuum. The house sound is often described as a little dark, but the vacuum, especially when paired with the reflex clamp, makes for rock solid imaging. I've heard the Avids and my recollection was that their sound is a little more... bright maybe, but thats not controlling for cartridge or amps so it would be hard to say for sure.

I have a Star Saphire thats about 20-years old. The vacuum works beautifully. I've heard non-sota owners claim the vacuum is fussy, but I've never had so much as a hickup with mine. I can only imagine that a new Cosmos would be that much better.

I own a Cosmos Mk IV. In the past, I've owned two VPIs, a Michell Orbe, a Well Tempered Reference, and others even further back. The Cosmos is far and away the best of the lot. I have auditioned the Brinkmann and an SME 20, but can't make a direct comparison since they were in relatively unfamiliar systems, although I can say that absolutely nothing stood out as being clearly superior to the Cosmos.

Sota tables,particularly the Cosmos are superb in every way.They also happen to be under-priced,IMO.Some folks can recognize this,and are rewarded with a "first class" product.Others are impressed by higher priced products(though not a drop better,in performance,and helping to allow an arm/cartridge to extract musical information).

Common sense usually prevails,and the customer service/support offered by a "local" manufacturer should be seriously considered.

Best of luck

Ive owned most of the Sota line and currently have a cosmos iv. I have directly compared it to many of the best out there with the same arm and cartridge and am convinced you'd have to go way up the food chain to best it. Look at the features, a jeweled bearing, advanced suspension, super stable and accurate motor with supply and a flawless vacuum. I was very happy with my nova but the cosmos is really an amazing upgrade and as Sirspeedy has pointed out that even at full retail its an amazing bargain. There are many great tables out there that you would be very happy with but if you poll most Sota (particularly cosmos) owners youll find they've become converts for life.