Early SOTA vs New Something: Conundrum

I own a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse and have owned a gen III Star Sapphire so am familiar with the earlier tables. 

My opinion is that a refurbished SOTA is going to be a far better table than the Technics. Especially if you go with the magnetic bearing, the phenolic sub chassis, and the Eclipse motor package. I also suppose you would get a lead and acrylic arm board. The Sumiko arm you have is highly regarded even today, so it is worth keeping.  Certainly not cheap but you get a table that is going to perform superbly and is smartly engineered. The SOTA suspension is one of the best out there, the magnetic bearing is going to have the lowest noise floor, and the motor controller provides a level of speed stability that is remarkable for  a belt drive, and while a direct drive might be tenths or hundredths of percentage points more accurate, it is not enough of a difference to offset every other aspect that it is less capable of than the suspended design with lower friction bearing assembly. 

My vote is get an updated SOTA. 

I wouldn't worry about that. I've 3 refurbished Garrard 401s, and they are over 50 years old. Good engineering never dates, it just gets more expensive. 

but I'll still have a 30yo turntable

An update:

The new SOTA belt came in.

I know I had replaced it once before years ago, but this one is quite different. Much narrower in width and quite a bit shorter. Whatever; it works very well. The old belt took a number of seconds to reach speed- due to slippage I am sure. The new one pops right up to speed in about two seconds or so.

The new AT ART9xi cartridge has been installed. Incredible improvement there as well.  I had installed a new stylus into the AQ B200 a few years ago, but this new AT cartridge is lightyears ahead in all respects. Considering it will improve over a number of hours still, I am quite shocked with the superior sound quality right out of the box.

All I can say is this gives a much better sound for what Analog is known for- and I had allowed to slip away all these years... 

Cheers,

RW

Hi RW.  If you are going to use the Star in any capacity, you need to get an armboard cut specifically for the geometry of the Arm.  Otherwise you will never be able to align the cartridge correctly.  You can get a SOTA cut armboard and the composite armboard is worth the money or you can locate an aftermarket blank or make your own.  Regardless you will want to precisely determine where to drill the tonearm pillar hole for the correct alignment.  Have a machine shop to the drilling.  That Arm is still worthy after all these years.

I owned SOTA's, gen I-III, Stars and non-Stars going back to the early 80s and have done most of the maintenance the last 20 years.  Inspecting the bearing thrust plate, it's imbedded in the base of the spindle, and the bearing itself are the first things to do.  Cheap, easy and very important.  If the thrust plate is damaged and many are, you will need to ship the entire platter/bearing assembly to SOTA for inspection and repair.  If you are handy or have a machine shop, you can replace the synthetic sapphire with delrin rod for cheap.   The spring replacement kit is cheap, easy to do at home and important for stability, speed and tonearm performance.  This is just the start so you can either go the upgrade path, buy a new one or seek alternative turntables.  The Technics 1200 series offers good performance and excellent value.  It can also be modded.  Regardless, do the armboard in the interim. 

@mijostyn

Here ya go!!

1982: AudioQuest Phono Cartridges AudioQuest begins selling phono cartridges and achieves almost instant success with the AQ-404 moving coil cartridge. The AQ analog tradition continues to this day!