Well, you already ’hit’ on it really.
I also have a SOTA (and yes, IMO, it’s a keeper) with A knife edge Jelco S850 MKII, and a Soundsmith MIMC cart. I’ve been toying with the idea of going MC with a Benz cart. I know some don’t like removable head shells, but I like mine, as I can swap in my mono cart, or another, or a MM/MI to MC easily, without the need for two arms. I also would love two arms, but I’m not getting rid of my SOTA.
The Soundsmith and Benz, both being low compliance carts, work well with the Jelco 850 which is right around 13-14g effective mass. A higher compliance cart probably would not work as well. Both my Soundsmith carts are a compliance of 10. Most Benz are 15 that I am looking at.
Thus, if you are looking at a very light effective mass arm (5-8g as example) your cart selection will be limited to higher compliance carts (20-28+/-g). On the other hand, if you are looking at medium to high mass arms, you will be limited to lower to medium compliance carts (10-22+/-). There are many who simply love low mass arms, and I get it per the carts they desire.
Now, this is simply ’in general’. Weight of the cart, etc. also comes into play.
Here is a good site which you can input many variables to see if a particular arm and cart will be acceptable together:
http://www.mh-audio.nl/Calculators/RF.html
My view is from a relative ’newby’ getting back into vinyl over the last few years. I’m sure others will have views with more years being active in vinyl. I had put my rig away over 25 years ago before getting back into it recently.
Just get a good quality arm regardless. Don’t skimp here if looking for something new.