A SOTA Sapphire or Nova is an excellent buy. I got hooked on vinyl for life when I wisely chose to start with a SOTA Star III (predecessor to Nova). They will run forever with minimal maintenance. Their highly effective suspension means you don't need to design exotic, difficult, or expensive isolation solutions around the deck. I still have mine, refreshed to Nova V status. Get an exotic wood and it will turn heads for life. The SME 309 should be a good match. I had no problem changing the belt on my SOTA; never heard that before? I have a Clearaudio Master Innovation I also love but it is 6x the price much more difficult to optimize; requires a lot of external isolation.
