JustFlying, are you threading the machine with the foot down? I'm sure with your experience you know to always thread with the foot up, just asking because of the thread caught in the discs.
I bought mine when they first came out. There were some lemons then, I think, like microsoft, companies let their customers do the beta testing. I got one of the lemons. I can't remember now what was wrong, but I called the dealer, he said bring it in, and met me at the door with a new boxed machine. This one is a dream. All those lights! That nice harp space. Janome quality.
My previous machine was a 6600 which I've sold to a cousin
My machine previous to that was a 9000
and previous to that a New Home as the company used to be known as, bought used from a neighbor for $25.00 when I was about 15 years old.
And their feet are Very reasonable and the standard ones fit all their machines
Some machine's feet are so expensive!!