SOTA cosmos turntables

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.

> How high would you have to go to better the performance of the cosmos?

An unanswerable question, one calling for an informed and critical opinion of one who has not only heard the Cosmos at length but who has extensive experience with, say, Rockports, Caliburns, TW Acustic, etc., etc. I would speculate that those folks are few and far between - and then there's the issue of listening biases to take into account.

I'll stick my neck out and say this. I think that it's unlikely that my Cosmos - with Triplanar arm and (currently) ZYX Universe - is unlikely to suffer in any comparison that could be devised. I have no doubt that better exists, but how much better? I personally feel that I'm at the cliched 'law of diminishing returns'. Of course, others will argue that this point occurs with the (excellent) Rega P5, for example...or does not occur until you hit Walker territory.

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.