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Upgrade Sota Comet or buy a used table?

I presently have a Sota Comet first generation table with a discontinued LMT2? tonearm. The bearing is gone in the tonearm and my best option so far is to upgrade the table. If I do upgrade it will be to a complete SOTA factory refurbished Comet with a S 301 tonearm. I am leaning strongly to trading in my Comet and paying $695 plus shipping of about $100.
Does this make more sense than buying a more expensive table such as a VPI Aries used for $1,000 to $1,200, and selling my Comet for $200? I am of the opinion I could still sell my "like new Comet" later for close to what I paid for the upgrade.
I presently have a Sumiko Blackbird cartridge which I plan to keep.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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2bgeorge OP
51 posts
 
So far I have got a lot of good advice and opinions. I really have multiple options now. New tonearm or a complete rebuild and keep it for awhile, and trade up later. Then again I could just take my upgrade money and buy a better used table.
Please continue to offer any other ideas that I might want to explore, my goal is as always, the best bang for the buck. I would like to keep what I consider a pretty decent Blackbird and not have the added expense of a new cartridge.
elevick
2,636 posts
 
I love Sota. Can you do the bearing/motor replacement yourself? I would not spend that much on a refurbish when you could probably buy a Sapphire or Jewel for that much money. The LMT2 arm and Blackbird are great and will save you money if you keep them.
For argument's sake: I prefer my Sota over the VPI & Mitchell that I sold off.
orpheus10
8,668 posts
 
The Sota Comet was considered an insult to the Sota name by audiophile's who knew more than me.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
TW ACUSTIC much better table.
thesoundhouse
250 posts
 
I have owned too many turntables to mention and I keep going back to the Sota turntables because they are just right. I have had a few uber expensive turntables over the years. I have tried in my system the SME 10, 20, and 30 and all sounded good until I went back to Sota Nova. I tried three upper end VPI turntables, TW Acustic, Avid Actus SP One, Linn Sondek 12 Valhalla. Many other s not mentioned here and I just going back to a Sota Star Nova MK IV/III. Sota turntables let music be music. The Comet is a great sounding turntable and for $1300.00 you will not find a better table. There was a latest version of the Comet for sale here on Audiogon for less than half price. I currently own a Sota Cosmos MKIV with an SME IV.vi tonearm, Zyx 4D gold coils and a Zyx Artisan phono amp and I have the best turntables sound I have ever had. The best part is that my tables sound killer good, it has a great build quality and I can call Sota and they will most of the time answer the phone while providing great customer service. The only other turntables I like almost as much is the Origin Live.
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