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Need Advice Sota Sapphire III + SME IV arm

I recently inherited my grandfather's SOTA Star Sapphire III TT equipped with a very nice SME IV tonearm. He probably bought this back in 1989 or '90 and it was never played. He bought some Infinity IRS Beta speakers and I think he just thought he needed the best of everything to put with it - but he really just played CDs at that point.

I've never had a vacuum TT before and am debating on what to do with it. Other than needing a new cartridge everything works great! My current system is Paradigm Monitor 9s with a Rega Brio-r.

I took the table in to my local Hi-Fi store that I bought my other equipment at and they were advising me to trade it in a get something like a Rega RP-6 instead. I'm not sure how to estimate what the SOTA and SME IV would sell for but I don't think that I am getting good trade in value...

Any advise on whether to just get a new cartridge (something like a Dynavector 10x5) and keep the SOTA or should I look in to selling it and get something like the Rega P6?

Thanks for any help!
Eric
enschicago

Showing 1 response by rodrigaj

rodrigaj
32 posts
 
I would be wary of returning to the dealer who made that trade offer.

I foolishly did the same thing with a Linn Sodek / Ittok combination and traded for a Marantz (clearaudio) tt. I got $300 off the list price. That was a foolish mistake economically and for audible reasons.

I don't blame the dealer, he's making a living. I blame myself, for not thoroughly researching the value of the Linn and the choices available for moving on from 22 years of living with the Linn.

The SOTA requires set up patience, but you will be rewarded with your perseverance.
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