SOTA, soft feet or cones, when to use either?


Hi all,
My SOTA is on soft stock feet now but I have the metal cones aswell so I want to know when is it best to use rubber or metel and how do each affect sound?
For the "record" I am in a dedicated basement room and my table sits on a Tsrget rack with a sort of suspension shelf. Thanks for input.
P.S. I know I could try it and see what happens when changed but due to disability it isnt as easy as that............thanks!
chadnliz
Cones,with a good solid shelf underneath.Preferrably a Symposium shelf.
Good luck.
Agreed, cones it is.

To switch out: simply put some books under one edge at a time and remove rubber foot, then replace with metal cone... The rear one is difficult. But, this method, which has worked for me in the past, beats having to put turnable on edge.

happy listening,
I bought finished slabs of marble from Mr. Seconds, about 20" x 20" and use it under the cones on both of my Sotas.I guess it sort of "couples" the table to a larger mass,in theory making this a hundred pound turntable. The biggest reason I did this is because it looks cool.
Just ran across this thread- The reason is that the Sota has a spring suspended subchassis with a low fundamental 'bounce' frequency, of about 2HZ; this makes it nearly immune to high frequency vibration, but vibration at or near it's fundamental can send it into resonance. The soft rubber feet are themselves springs, so the whole table has a fundamental that's undesirably close to the fundamental of the subchassis. With the table base on cones(preferably threaded in tight), on a rigid support, only high frequency vibration reaches the suspended subchassis, which it can easily deal with.

To demonstrate the resonance effect, take your table for a ride in a car, which is suspended at just about the same frequency as the table; it will go NUTS! Unless you lock down the subchassis, of course. Or don't risk damage, I've done it, so you don't have to.
I installed the feet and re-leveled it all and it sounds a bit tighter in bass but I have no idea why but I like it! Thanks as always for all input,,,,,cheers
I switched to Audio Points cones and noticed a "clearing up" of the music. Putting my SOTA on a Mapleshade made a bigger improvement (I started with a 2" slab, now a 4" slab). I tried a Boos maple cutting board, and the Mapleshade was so much better. It got the "wow" factor from my wife.

Earlier I had the SOTA on a wall mount (Target) with either the original MDF shelf or a 1.25 cutting board that fit inside the rack. The Mapleshade sounds much, much better (not using the wall shelf, just a Salamander system with the Mapleshade).

-Skot
I have a relatively new Sota Saphire and hadn't really considered changing out the old feet until I ran across this post.

Any issues with threading the Audio Points onto the Sota post?
If you don't already have one, get yourself a Sota reflex clamp. In my table it noticibly tightened up the imaging - just brought it into better focus - even with the stock rubber feet.

If I haven't mentioned it before: I love my Sota! Very easy to live with and lovely to use.
No issue at all, it only sits a bit higher. I dont use my Reflex clamp all the time as the Vac hold don is good on most but for warped records it is more of an issue, there are some carts that will hit the clamp so I know others dont use it all the time either. The clamp is really nice for cleaning records, its quicker to get on and off and keep the labels dry if you get careless.
I have a Sota Star/Sapphire Table, and would like to get cones. I see a few sites that carry Audio Points. Do you know what thread I need for the Star/Sapphire table?
I dont know but you can measure your soft feet or figure out what fits with a trip to hardware store and a foot in your pocket, or call SOTA.
Chad,

Which feet did you get, and where did you order them from?

Thanks,
Darrell
There are Audiopoints available to work with Sota turntables. I use a couple of Starsound products in conjuction with my own designs in the grounding and mechanical coupling of musical instruments. I also use the Audiopoints in unison with my LP12 turntable. The Sota needs an internal thread design probably the 2.0ap-1bint. You may also want to use the APCD coupling disc, when used on certain surfaces these are of benefit sonically as well as providing surface protection. Thats what I know..Tom