January 2022 Meeting – SOTA Turntables
It was a bitter cold early Saturday when I headed down to Rockville from Baltimore.
A snowstorm gave just a glancing blow with barely an inch of snow. Roads were clear and dry, making travel easy.
This month’s meeting, hosted by Ken Wolff of SOTA Tutntables and Command Performance’s Jon Archer, highlighted the new Nova VI and the Comet VI turntables. Ken has a beautiful home filled with an audiophile’s paradise of components. Ken is a professional musician (trombone) and worked with top tier orchestras and jazz groups. As an audiophile he demands an elevated level of gear to reproduce the music that he is so familiar with. I have owned a Star Sapphire since 1985 through many upgrades to Nova status in 2013. I met Donna Bodinet (SOTA) at Axpona 2013 where she explained the amazing SOTA customer service program which led me to upgrade my Star Sapphire to Nova status. SOTA is very loyal to its customers and provides a great trade-in and upgrade program. Ken bested me with his 1981 Sapphire updated to current spec.
Donna is partially retired now and Christan Griego joined SOTA as the new Director of Development and Marketing in 2018. Having met Christan a few times at both CAF and Axpona, he is on a mission to bring SOTA back to be a major player in the turntable industry.
I purchased my SOTA to solve a problem I had while living in an older home. My system was on a weak wooden floor, and I could not walk across the room while a record was playing. This caused the arm to jump around damaging my precious LPs. I did some research and found Sota suspended tables. This solved my problem and I have been happy ever since. SOTA’s suspended tables have the main bearing and the tonearm on a solid sub-chassis that is decoupled by springs from the rest of the world. I like to demonstrate this by banging on the oak outer plinth while a record is playing.
SOTA now has three series of turntables. The ultimate being the Statement Series including the Cosmos at $9,350 and the Millenia at $10,750. One can upgrade either of these fine turntables to vacuum hold down for around $1400.
The Heritage series includes the Sapphire IV at $3,975 and the Nova IV at $5,550. These can be upgraded to vacuum hold down for around $1,200. The vacuum hold down adds to the solidarity of the music signal.
The Urban Series consists of more budget friendly priced offerings. The Moonbean with tonearm is available for $1,375. The Escape, with a better controlled motor and Rega 220 arm, comes in at $1,700. The range is topped off with the Comet IV for $1,925. They are all made in America and back by SOTA’s pledge:
SOTA turntables have a lifetime trade-in value, your investment in SOTA will never become outdated. In twenty years you may want the new SOTA and you can trade-in your old model.
SOTA website
We were treated to some particularly good pizza and liquid libations and the music was great too!
The DC Hi-Fi Group has scheduled the initial The Bit Parade listening session for February. The spotlighted recording will be a Japanese special 2016 DSD mix/master (Analog Productions) of the 1963 Leonard’ Bernstein/NY Philharmonic: Mahler’s Fifth Symphony in 5.1. Future Bit Parade listening sessions will include the SACD reissue of Complete Beethoven Symphonies: George Szell And The Cleveland Orchestra (stereo), The Alan Parson Project — Live In Columbia Blu-ray Concert (Hi-Res PCM 5.1), The Wes Montgomery Trio (SACD stereo), The Eagles – Greatest Hits (24/96 PCM files stereo) and The Isao Suzki Trio – Black Orpheus (DSD stereo). Members are welcome to suggest other albums.
2021 Holiday Party Extraordinaire
We had a beautiful day for the drive out to Alexandria for the DC Hi-Fi Group’s annual holiday party at Greg Viggiano’s condominium party room. Over thirty-five attended for a few hours on a sunny Sunday afternoon, to share tasty food, drink, lively conversation, and a listen to a fine system provided by John Gatski. The system included the new Mytek Brooklyn AMP+ Class D amplifier, Amphion Argon speakers, and the Mytek Brooklyn Dac+.
We started off with schmoozing, drinking, and eating. Not a bad beginning
I was surprised at how well this system sounded in a very tough room. John brought some room treatment in the form of a rug for the hard tile floor. We were treated to some fine music with a brand-new remix of Warren Bernhardt’s So Real produced by Tom Jung. Mr. Jung was approached earlier this year to tweak the hi-res favorite with an alternative more modern mix. The differences were very apparent, and we were left with our thoughts to what we felt was the better mix.
And of course, there was the give-a-ways to cap off an enjoyable day.
All thirty-five members and friends that attended were winners. I certainly felt like one for participating.
See you at the next event.
Third Annual DCHFG Rummage Sale – October 16, 2021
DC Hi-Fi Group Rummage Sale+Vinyl Event
When: Saturday, Oct. 16, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Historic Garrett Park Town Hall, 10814 Kenilworth Ave., Garrett Park, MD 20896
The DC Hi-Fi Group is holding the Third Annual Member/Dealer Audio Rummage Sales+Vinyl event in Garrett Park, MD on Oct. 16th. Individual and DCHFG dealer members are selling off their used gear, b-stock, scratch and dent, and classic audio pieces, as well as new/used vinyl and turntable gear, home theater and pro audio.
Over twenty tables of gear will be at the event. It is open to the DCHFG membership and the public. Free admission. Cash-only sales unless otherwise noted by the vendors. Drinks and lunch will be available to DCHFG members. Non-members who sign up for annual or bi-annual membership terms are eligible to win prizes.
DCHFG Members who want to sell their used gear (we all have lots of stuff, don’t we) and records at the Oct. 16 event need to reserve their table space by Oct. 8. We have space for twenty-two tables. Table space fee is $30 per table for individual members and $50 for dealer/manufacturer/service provider members. Non-member space fee is $100. Click here to download the table reservation form that can be mailed back with the check, payable to The DC Hi-Fi Group.
Members are encouraged to bring their own tables. We recommend the Rubber Maid-style, six ft. plastic folding tables. Street parking and nearby school parking lot available to attendees.
DCHFG visits Russ Katz Audio Salon
John Gatski and Video Auteur, Paul Elliott, made the journey to Russ Katz’s Audio Salon. Russ describes how he became an Audiophile and then demonstrates his extensive Vinyl Reviver process. The video also provides an overview of all the wonderful audio gear Russ can demonstrate.
A must watch video for all DCHFG members!
DCHFG on YouTube
During the Pandemic, we’ve all had to adjust how we do things. DCHFG is no different. We have been expanding our reach into the ether as we populate our YouTube channel with new content.
This week we posted a video for a DIY speaker build with the HiVi 3.1A DIY Kit. Watch what it takes to build your own pair of speakers from start to finish.
Stay tuned as we hope to have more interesting content soon.
The DC Hi-Fi Group 