Sota Cosmos


I bought a second hand Cosmos with the Fountainhead plinth (series 1)  and an SME V. I ask owners out there of older Nova's or Cosmo's, if they are satisfied with the original configuration or did they upgrade? The upgrade option at Sota to an Eclipse configuration is 5k to 6k (I think), which is much cheaper than buying new, but it's still a lot of money that could buy other brands. I am at a crossroads of sort. 

I have other tables but I haven't compared them yet, so maybe you've owned these and have compared:

Nottingham Interspace w/ Heavy Kit

JVC-QL-10

Technics SP10mk2

Thorens TD-124mk1

Dual 721

I only list these because in the near future I am going to have to pair down to two ir just one, hence the Cosmos question 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! 

 

enobenetto

Lots of SOTA experience but none better than two gentleman above ^^^^^^
i do have thoughts on TT # of your soon to be thinned stable assuming you keep upgrade the SOTA : what work have you done to the SP-10 especially electronics,

arm, plinth and especially isolating it ????  DD drive and impact might be useful sonic foil to the SOTA and give you much more arm choices

I love hearing about SOTA turntables, and any turntable, so anything to add is much appreciated! 

The SP-10 was another lucky deal. I was at a radio station record sale in San Luis Obispo and amongst the records they had a bunch of equipment on the ground in the corner. The SP-10 was sitting there with an Audio Technica AT-12PT tonearm. I asked the guy about it and he said the speed doesn't hold and someone told him that it was not fixable. He told me to make any offer, and I offered $25 for both. It did not have the power supply, so I bought one used for $250. It doesn't hold speed on 33 or 45 (from what I remember) only 78. The chassis is in pretty good shape, only minor pitting. The goal after fixing, is to make a plinth and add a Transfi Terminator tonearm that I have in a box to it. Any advice on this approach or suggestions on tackling the speed issue? 

plinth and especially isolating it ????

I really only have experience with mdf and birch ply. I'd love to add different material, i.e. acrylic, steel, slate, but that would require a shop with exact specifications. Any advice on isolation, sandbox, magnetic levitation, spikes or sheer mass? 

@mulveling Thank you for the compare, very helpful!

There is a video showing the subchassis of the new Cosmos and it resmebles the plinth of the Millennia. It is a honeycomb-like aluminum plate. Looks quite substantial, far more so than the Nova subchassis. I wonder if anyone would comment of the Millennia, it is a table that is  rarely discussed, despite it being the TOTL in the SOTA universe. I hope it is appropriate to bring up the Millennia as the OP is on the Cosmos.

A buddy had an older Sota Nova he had upgraded to the Nova VI specs (w/vacuum).  I had some extended listening of it at his place (identical electronics and Koetsu Onyx) and was hooked...so I bought a new Cosmos (w/vacuum) and a nice Origin Live arm last year.  Extremely happy with this setup.

Recently, same said bud decided to upgrade his Nova to Cosmos sub-chassis...not easy (plinth mods) nor cheap, but he said the improvment in detail, low end, and dynamics is fantastic.  As an aside, his table body is a beautiful cocobolo; I'm going to build him a new motor cover (to replace the now plugged acrylic(?) thing...wood tbd.

I did get to hear the new TOTL Sota Onyx (belt drive) table ($28K) at Capital Audio Fest last fall with an Origin Live arm and Hana Umami Black cartridge...sounded real nice in that system.  Sota rep mentioned the new Direct Drive variant coming, as well.  Both non-suspended, but will apparently have the MinusK platform as an option...