Developing A List Of Tonearm Candidates For A SOTA Turntable

The SME V is a fantastic arm and was always a classic match with the SOTA. What was it that you disliked?

Kuzma 4Point9 or higher, but good luck finding a used one!

You play LPs with dust cover on?  If not, who cares whether the dust cover impedes the lateral traverse?

@neonknight Today I have broken my Hiatus from the Analog Section for a New Member and now for you Origin Live Inquiry.

I have a friend in my local Audio Club, who sold on their SME 20/12 as a result on my introducing them to a New to them Experience of a Vinyl Front End.

You are aware of my Vinyl Front End and how it is assembled.

The SME 20/12 owner moved on to Origin Live Tonearms and went through the Encore fairly quickly to settle for quite some time on the Illustrious.

They were with no doubt the Illustrious was a TA well worthwhile having in use and rated it above the V12.

I have experienced the Illustrious > Sumiko Pearwood in various systems that have had the Illustrious mounted on a Idler Drive and Belt Drive TT.

Never have I perceived the Illustrious > Pearwood as being wanting in any way.

When the Ill' > P'wood was used on a ID 401 with a Compressed Bamboo Plinth, O was off the view, that was the very best 401 experience I had ever had. 

The Ill' was eventually replaced by the Conqueror, which I never received a demo'.

The owner of the Conqueror was very very pleased, and made it known there was noticeable improvements to the Pearwoods performance.

Here is the Curve Ball, a friend of the 401 > Conq' > Pearwood user, laid down a challenge to put a Vertere DG-1 TT with the DG Tonearm in use.

The 401 > Conq' are now sold, the Vertere DG-1 TT > DG Tonearm > Pearwood are now in use for quite some time, nearly a year.

The Vertere user is off the view this is the best Vinyl Front End he has had in use.

I can't Vouch for the OL TA's or the Vertere DG TA being competible to your requirements for the Sota.

Back to my Hiatus 😴      

I have a Origin Live Silver iv on my Sota Escape and it's really nice.   I would imagine their top offerings are high quality as you go up the line.  

Sumiko MDC-800 The Arm, which SOTA's David Fletcher designed to partner with his table. If you can’t find (or afford) one, look for a Zeta, the workingman’s MDC-800.

I have the entry OL Onyx which replaced an RB300 for my Rega P2 (Groovetracer modified all the way down). Everything was instantly more transparent and full bodied (if I can use that term). The downside was after a month of happy listening I began to have channel cut-out somewhere halfway through a side or variable volume playback. It was awful. I went to the Origin Live website for trouble shooting and they had the issue and the remedy listed. I had to dismantle the arm and end plug. The teeny-tiny wires in the arm needed to be untwisted and the ground wire reseated. It took about 30 minutes and the problem was erased. Everything back to sounding 100%. However, I worry all the time now about those little wires twisting again.

Supatrac's Nighthawk. Or Blackbird for less cost. Great review by Fremer on the Blackbird. 

Sumiko MDC-800 The Arm, which SOTA's David Fletcher designed to partner with his table. 

Yes - and David quit making the Sumiko arm when the SME V arrived.

There's a reason for that.

I'm familiar with the Supatrac. Whilst it's quite good value, not. in the league of either the Schroeder CB or the Kuzma 4Point which are probably the best options given that the OP wants to upgrade from an SME V.

@dover   I've heard that Dohmann recently stopped recommending the Schroeder CB series as they found that there are better sounding arms; yet do recommend the Supatrac Blackbird and Nighthawk, which they feel "are a revelation with reference level performance"

The Blackbird is a solid value for the cost but I'm going for the upgraded Nighthawk myself, which was just released so I doubt you've had the chance to evaluate it. 

There's a YT video where The Dohmann Helix One MKIII is playing a Nighthawk and it sounded amazing. 

I don't know which model of SOTA you have.  I have a vintage SOTA Star Sapphire on which I had a linear-tracking Eminent Technology ET-2 installed, and am still using that to this day.  It is rather fussy to set VTF with it, but if you don't mess with changing cartridges or VTF often, that's not a big issue.  I think it sounds great.  It offers an easy way to alter VTA, which you can do while playing a record and listening.  You do have to manage the noise of the air pump which provides the air to the air-bearing.  I cover mine with a cardboard box and have it situated 10 ft. from my listening position.  Others put it in a closet or another room.

Dear @cleeds  : Other classic combination with the SOTA TT is as @drmuso  already posted the ET-2.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

@vinylshadow 

You presume too much. A friend of mine distributes the Supertrack here. As far as Dohmann goes he will mount any arm you want - "they are all great".

Make sure you replace the horizontal bearing pivot point and re-polish the arm block on which it loads on your Blackhawk every year - they wear out quite rapidly.

@rauliruegas 

I'm surprised you've mentioned the ET2 - when I distributed Sota here our reference system primarily used Sota Vacuum/ET2 - an outstanding combo.

We never had a problem with keeping the Sota sub-chassis level.

Despite some folk objections to the ET2, properly set up it will see off most pivoted arms, particularly on tracking ability ( 0 anti-skate ).

I was also the agent for SME at the time.

@dover Could be!

But I'm interested in the Nighthawk. Not the Blackbird. The Nighthawk was just released. 

As you may have heard, the Nighthawk is a significant upgrade to the Blackbird. Perhaps the bearing pivot point was upgraded? There were several significant parts upgraded. 

Hey neon, I feel your misery. The problem is that for the suspension of the SOTA to work normally, the arm has to be within a certain weight range. I use a CB on my Cosmos and I am in no hurry to move on. I have also installed the Kuzma 4 Point 9 on a Cosmos with excellent results. The 9 " Origin Live arms fit really well, but their customer service has received more than a few negative comments. There are also several Clearaudio arms that will fit. The Verismo on an SME V is not the greatest match without adding a significant amount of mass to the headshell. I have an MC Diamond which is way heavier than the Verismo and I still have to use the brass mounting plate! The Lyras are a great match for the SME, but you are ready to move on. I would like to try mounting a Reed 2G on the SOTA. It is lighter and more compact for a tower arm and I really like the bearing arrangement and the magnetic anti skating mechanism. The problem is once you buy it you are committed and it might require some modification to the plinth for clearance, something not many are willing to do. I keep thinking I'm going to build a custom plinth for the Cosmos. If I get down to it I might make use the old one as a guinea pig. 

Elevating the arm board won't work because you can only lower arms so far and somehow I do not think a Rega arm is your cup of tea. 

If you have a Thrax CB you might want to get in touch with the man himself and put yourself on the waiting list for one of his hand made wood CBs. I must warn you that I have been on that list for 2 years. 

@mijostyn I have an ebony CB-1L on the Scheu with the Verismo and its a wonderful combination. I love the performance of the arm, but its just such a pain in the butt to set up. Those settings remind me of a 1960’s 0r 70’s era of arm. But I cannot deny it sounds excellent, and probably the main reason I was willing to move on from the SME. I think I will buy a 3009 III to put my MC2000 on and it will be easy to swap in when I want it.

I have not heard of issues with Origin Live, I will look at that closer as I was considering an Enterprise.

I guess a Kuzma would be a solid choice also.

Clearaudio is another I have thought of, but I find no one being enthusiastic about them, and I wonder if its the stigma of a "big" company, something that Ortofon and Audio Technica often get tagged for.

Something will come along. I have the Scheu/Shcroder/Verismo set up and it satisfies. My digital sounds very nice, so I am not in a bad place.

FWIW, I had a Clearaudio Universal arm on an Innovation Wood for a few years. It was a delight to use and did nothing seriously wrong but I never cottoned to it all that much, always finding it a touch lean or metallic. I had a Phantom II on the same two-armed table and preferred it, even before an upgrade to Supreme. I also preferred the Triplanar VII uii I had an another turntable.

Ortofon just released a new line of arms that look very nice and supposedly have some upgrades over their discontinued Jelco-made arms (which actually sound pretty darn good, especially for the money), although I’m not certain exactly what, other than an improved bayonet mounting collar. They look more substantial. Not especially purist, though, with removable headshell and DIN connector, so quite unlike your Schroeder.

@neonknight  I have a method and it takes me only 10 minutes to change cartridges once they are set up for the first time. All it requires is a WallySkater and a stylus force gauge. Each cartridge gets its own mounting plate. They are set up initially with a SmarTractor and the plates are marked with a fine Sharpie so I can return them to the exact same position every time. The VTA scale reading is recorded for each cartridge. Azimuth stays the same throughout. I must add that the WallySkater is a must with magnetic anti skate mechanisms. I set all modern styluses like your Replicant 100 to 11%. 

The Enterprise is a well designed arm. The only thing I do not care for is the anti skate mechanism. I personally think the Kuzma is a better arm even if it is ugly as sin. Check out the Clearaudio Magnify arm. I am very tempted to try this one. It is a brilliant design with all the features I demand in an arm. Like the CB it is deceptively simple. It will fit on the SOTA like an Italian driving glove. The Universal is probably too heavy for the SOTA.  

@wrm57 thanks for the experience with the Clearaudio Universal. I'm with @neonknight that you really don't hear much about the Universal. I run one now and am very happy with it due to the flexibility of cartridges and weights it can take to change compliance and just all of the features Clearaudio has for keeping a customer with upgrades.

I've always wondered how people view the Universal. I'm having an itch and was curious about testing out a different arm on my Ovation. Kuzma 9" or just be happy with the Universal. 

Mijo, you mean it fits like OJ’s glove?

Mijo, you mean it fits like OJ’s glove?

Yes, but it will murder the sound.

From all reports the Magnify has stability issues on flexible floors. Been a bit of a disaster.

Dear @mijostyn :  Yes, the Clearaudio looks fine but what dover posted is something to worry about the tonearm bearing design, normally ball bearings are true solid and with no issues but here the design is: balls+magnet and maybe this is what gives some kind of unstability at microscopic stylus track. Something as all the Kuzma that are unipivots in reality.

But.....

R.

I ran various SOTAs since the early 80s up until three years ago when I switched to a Kuzma Ref2 and Kuzma arm.  Agreed that not every cart works with the SME V as I had one for nearly 30 years.  The Kuzma 4point9 is the only one that works with the SOTA but I would recommend trying an AMG 9w2 arm.  Fairly easy to setup with a Linn mount and for me, the best set of bearings around.  It is the last arm I used on the SOTA, mounted with an Dynavector XV-1S and it was outstanding.  So good in fact that I sold the SME V.  I had the AMG mounted on the Kuzma Ref2 and only let it go as a 4point11 came on the market.  In truth, it was hard to hear the difference between the Kuzma 4point and the AMG, both using the Dynavector cart.  Worth giving a look.