SOTA cosmos turntables

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

You definately want to use the reflex clamp, even with the vacuum. the difference is noticible. Images will push forward out of the sound field and the imaging will tighten up. There is an indentation in the middle of the Sota platters, approximately the diameter of the record label, that leaves a slight gap between the record and platter. You wouldn't think with the vaccuum that this would allow much resonance, but apparently it leaves enough that the clamp is a very worthwhile item to have.

One word of caution about the clamp though: If you have a cartridge with a wide body where the width of the cartridge actually overhangs the record label when riding in the final groove the cartridge will bounce off the clamp in the deadwax. My AT-OC9 does this. It does make you jump out of the chair in a hurry at the end of the record.

Dmccombs,

Yes, SOTA can be slow. They are a very small company. However, let me relate a little story to you.

Last May, I sent my Cosmos to SOTA. Fedex absolutely trashed it. Long story short - Fedex took until September to pay off on the claim, and SOTA took from then until Dec. 24 to deliver my virtually new from the ground up Cosmos. Now, back in early December I began pestering Kirk and Donna to get it back to me to ease my vinyl withdrawal symptoms. Kirk called me back and said "I know you have waited a long time, but I'm not comfortable with the way this new bearing is seating. It might be OK or it might not, but I'm going to keep it until it's right". Personally, that's the kind of care and attention that I want. Yes, I had to wait a couple of more weeks, but I'm absolutely sure that I have a 'table that will last many, many years.

Disclaimer: I have no relation to SOTA or its owners other than that of 'satified customer', but I will tell you this - I believe that they care deeply about their customers, and act accordingly. As an example, Donna (with my help on this end) dogged Fedex until they gave in. She didn't have to do it. After all, it was my claim. Just another example of them wanting to make sure things are right.