Sota Sapphire and Isolation?


Greetings, y'all! I should be receiving my new Sota Sapphire on Tuesday. I'm psyched! I currently have my Rega on a Gingko Cloud isolation platform. Since the Sota is a suspended table, will I need the isolation? Obviously, I won't know anything until I get the table setup, but my excitement is looking for any reason to engage with my new Sota. LOL. Thanks, y'all!

rblondeau

Now put your sedan on a flatbed trailer, strap it down to the bed, and ride in your car while someone else drives the trailer down the same highway. The trailer has its own suspension with its own spring rates and damping.

@lewm But the SOTA is already on another flatbed truck that is the shelf/cabinet that has its own issues and further depends on the quality of that unit so yet another unknown. Would you rather have your car on a flatbed truck with a spring suspension or on one with no springs in the suspension at all and have your car beat to sh*t? The only question is if the vibrations from the cabinet are more harmful than using spring-based footers realizing that both have issues. Neither you nor I can answer that for sure given all the variables at play here, which is why it’s still worth at least trying.  You’ve got an awesome system BTW. 

I firmly believe there is only one Interface responsible for creating a energy to be transferred and converted into a electrical signal to undergo stages of amplification and ultimately be transferred into sound.

The only Interface responsible for creating a energy to be transferred and converted into a electrical signal is the Styli's Interface with the Groove Modulation.

How the energy being created for transfer is kept to be unadulterated comes from creating optimisation of other critical interfaces able to transfer energy.

When talking about Support Isolation the control is to reduce Ambient / Kinetic Energy being transferred into the Structure and ultimately impacting on the Styli in the Groove.

Mechanical Energies are at play as well, and the best Isolation Platform ever produced is not going to resolve mechanical energy transfer impacting on the Styli.

The conditions within the Platter Spindle Bearing Housing and hence the Platter being a conduit for transferral of energy, along with the Function of the Tonearm are contributors to energies being created that will impact on the Styli being able to produce a unadulterated signal.

The Vinyl LP as the Source material being in many cases eccentric in rotation and contaminated with impurities are also contributors to the Styli being impacted on in a detrimental manner.

Supporting a TT is only one consideration towards creating a optimised condition for the Styli / Groove Modulus Interface.

I listen to a Vinyl Source, where there is a confidence three out of four of the items are addressed to a successful optimisation.

Additional to this the Geometry for the Styli to be optimised is in my view very well cared for as well.

Improving Eccentricity of the LP is one I have not spent too much energy to use corrective measures or monies on to resolve.     

Thank for this discussion y'all. I'll have to read it again when the TT arrives. I'm just gonna start with the TT on the shelf, see how that goes, and then experiment with the Gingko platform. It's not spring-loaded, by the way, it's a platform (uncertain of material) that rests on rubber balls. The number of balls used depends on the weight of the TT. Anyway, thanks for the discussion!

Soix, you do want the SOTA on a solid support, which is the road bed in my analogy. Perhaps think of a spring suspension that bounces at 2 cps. Now mount it on a spring suspended shelf that bounces at any different frequency. Can you see that the two suspensions will interact negatively? At some frequency the TT will be disturbed to a greater degree than if there’s only one suspension by energy coming from below the bottom suspension..

I owned a SOTA Sapphire from the early 80’s, purchased new from the factory when it was still in downtown Oakland, CA by the Coliseum.   Nothing short of nuclear testing in the room would cause an audible issue.   That is a fabulous table.   I can’t speak for the current version, but I’d experiment with what you’ve got.   I wouldn’t be surprised to find that adding additional isolations does not help.

good luck and remember to just enjoy the music.